


time to pretend

by orphan_account



Series: Steve, Tony & Peter. [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Established Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, M/M, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Parent Steve Rogers, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Pre-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Spider-Man: Homecoming Spoilers, Superfamily, Teen Peter Parker, civil war never happened in this ok, may is still involved in peters upbringing, obviously everybody loves aunt may, peter hiding his identity, steve and tony are peter's guardians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-01-25 07:24:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 28,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12526056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: fifteen year old peter had been content in keeping his identity as spider-man low-key and focusing on being your average high school student,it’s just a shame peter’s awful at being ‘low-key’.





	1. act my age

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!! Okay just a few notes:  
> 1)Steve and Tony are Peter's adoptive parents, Peter still has the same background as before and aunt may is still part of his life as you will see in this story  
> 2) this will be based off spider-man homecoming although it won't be identical to it, in order for tony and steve to fit into the story civil war has never happened and therefore nobody knows peter is spiderman. i will however rewrite scenes from the movie in this fic such as the school trip etc. etc.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a day in the life of peter, as unfortunate as it is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments would be sooo appericated :))

Peter closed the door behind him, wincing at the sound the lock made as it shut. All lights were off which made the teenager cautious of his footing, kicking off his muddy sneakers he pushed them behind the other shoes that were collected by the front entrance. 

Careful to avoid making any sudden noise, Peter walked slowly up the long wooden staircase of the house. They didn't always stay here, actually, they were probably at the tower more than their actual home. Especially when his parents needed to not be Steve and Tony, but instead be Captain America and Iron Man for the day. Personally, Peter loved their family home way better. He loved all of the avengers, he considered all of them uncle and aunts ever since Steve and Tony adopted him nine years ago, and he loved seeing them around the tower whenever they stayed there. Although, it didn't mean that Peter didn't love having his father's to himself every so often. 

Peter shuffled towards the nearest bathroom and as soon as he was close enough he reached for the light switch and the room illuminated around him, highlighting his figure in front of the mirror. He was still wearing his suit, which now he was realizing had been really stupid as either one of his dad's could've been awake and would have saw their fifteenth year old son sneaking in dressed as spider-man. Every time Peter thought about the secret he held from everyone, his father's, his aunt May, Ned- he felt guilt. 

Just a couple of days ago he had overheard his parents in the kitchen talking about this 'spider-man' who they didn't realize was their kid. Tony had been trying to guess who it could be, each guess, completely wrong. There had been times when Peter had been close to telling his dad's, sometimes he figured he would just give it up. But, then he saw the missions his parents do and maybe just maybe they'd be proud of him if they knew he was trying to help people, like them. Slowly peeling the suit off his body he reached towards the laundry basket and pulled out a pair of star wars PJ's that he usually wore when he just wanted comfort. He followed his usual routine of hiding his suit before he simply starred at his own reflection while he brushed his teeth. 

"Peter?" The teenager startled when he heard his pop's voice on the other side of the white door, suddenly his face paled and he was spitting the toothpaste into the sink, turning on the tap to drown out his heavy breathing. Peter rushed forward and unlocked the bathroom door to face his blonde father, whose hair was messed up and he was rubbing his eyes tiredly. That's the only downside, pop's was a light sleeper and had trained himself to wake up at anything- when they first adopted Peter the little boy had frequent nightmares, it only took a second of heavy sobbing before steve would rush in and cradle him against his chest. "I thought you were asleep, it's 1am." 

"Uh, i didn't feel well-" improvising, Peter nodded towards the empty glass that his dad had probably left on the side hours ago. "Needed some water." 

Steve's eyes softened and he was stepping forward and placing a large hand against his sons head, "You might have caught the cold dad had last week-" The difference between his parents was, Steve was a super soldier and therefore had an immune system that would fight off flu whereas Tony didn't quite have that luxury. "Try get some sleep-" he allowed himself to be pulled into his fathers side, after the night he had on the streets of New York, he was relieved to recieve comfort off his father. Steve walked him down the hall, past his parents' bedroom where the door was slightly ajar and Peter could make out Tony's sleeping figure in he and Steve's large bed. They entered Peter's bedroom, which was slightly untidy (no surprise there) and was covered in science textbooks from high school and his computer games. Steve pulled back the dark blue duvet and ushered his son in, "I'll make you pancakes in the morning." the blonde promised before pressing a kiss to his teenage son's forehead and disappearing out of the room. 

Peter forced his eyes closed and sighed tiredly, what would his parents do if/ when they found out? Would they hate him for lying to him? Peter had remembered when he was seven and he accidentally broke a project his dad had been working on. He had cried and cried thinking that his parents would send him away, when in fact Tony found out and promised Peter that he couldn't do anything to ever make he and Steve hate him. Did that include lying about being a part time spider-man? 

Somehow the boy managed to fall asleep some point that night because the next time he opened his eyes it was light outside and he could faintly here the sound of somebody showering in one of the bathrooms. It was a Saturday, therefore high school was not a problem today- hence why he wasn't rushing. Yawning, he made his way through the large hallways and down the staircase before he was following the sound of a radio that was playing music, it led him straight to his pop's. Steve was stood in the kitchen, making breakfast while he had his iphone pressed to his ear- "Yeah, okay Sam. We'll be there in an hour." He was talking to Sam, one of Peter's favorite 'uncles'. 

He glanced over his shoulder and smiled when he noticed his son stood behind him, kissing the top of his head he moved passed him and continued chatting to his fellow avenger about a meeting they had to attend. Peter moved towards the frying pan, his father had abandoned and saw that he was making blueberry pancakes- "suddenly learnt how to cook, Pete? I'm so proud?" He span around the second he heard his brunette fathers voice, seeing Tony dressed in his usual suit and glasses with his hair perfectly in place. He must have been the one showering. 

"Pop's is making breakfast." Peter shrugged, jumping onto the kitchen counter.

"Yeah, those pancakes are going to have to be a takeout. we need to stop at the tower- apparently me and your father have to be involved in some meeting." Tony ruffled his sons hair, Peter wanted to complain. 

"Do i need to come?" Peter asked with a groan, he really didn't want to have to wait in the reception of the tower while he waited for his parents to finish whatever the avengers gathering was about. 

"Yes." Steve said as he appeared behind him, finally off the phone from Sam. "Because afterwards we are going grocery shopping and you're both coming-" Tony and Peter both groaned in sync, they hated grocery shopping and Steve knew they did. But he usually made them come with him, since apparently the super soldier loved domestic activities. 

"Darling, i can just get some delivered-" Tony tried to argue, reaching forward to grab Steve by the sweater. Peter knew where this was going, Tony would complain for a few minutes until he realized that Steve was the most stubborn person to live both in the twentieth and twenty first century, and Tony would give up. Therefore, exactly fifteen minutes later Peter was impatiently shoving pancake into his mouth while being pushed in the direction of Tony's car- by pop's.

The tower was always welcoming, being the son of Steve and Tony meant you were known by everybody who lived and worked in here. Most of these people had most likely babysat Peter at some point in their lives. "Good morning-" Pepper smiled as Tony held the door opened for both Steve and Peter, the blonde lady rushed forward when she realized the two men had brought their son with them to work and wrapped him up into a tight embrace. "You get taller every time i see you! You'll be running this place soon enough-" 

"I'm not that old." Tony stated, before they were stood in front of the rest of the avengers who were all supporting the same expression. 

In the end, Peter had been allowed to sit in the meeting- choosing to set up camp at the back of the room on the comfy chairs while the avengers gathered around the large glass meeting. Peter had one pod in his ear while he played a racing game on his phone- it was not entertaining at all. Thankfully, dad promised that the meeting would be over pretty quickly. The meeting went on for at least half an hour, they had been discussing what had happened on the last mission and how they could improve during the next before the briefing was finished. "Anyway-" Natasha said casually, leaning back on the custom leather chairs Peter's dad had picked out. "Does any of us have any information on that spider kid yet?" 

Peter's head shot up instantly and his game was abandoned. 

"We don't know if he is a kid, Nat." Sam shot back, Peter's heart sped up an uncomfortable amount and it would be times like this when the boy would reach out for his parents for comfort. Although, to do that during this moment would be highly suspicious. "Anyway, is it really any of our business who he is? We don't own New York..We don't own America either. So what if he wants to be the friendly neighborhood superhero." 

"There's being the friendly neighborhood superhero Wilson, and then there's this-" Tony pressed a button on his screen and suddenly the screen filled with a video of spider-man walking away (rather injured) from a bank robbery. When Peter had seen the guys holding a gun to a women's head in the bank one night his first instinct was to help, Peter's plan had somewhat backfired and the men had shot almost every working system in the place before the police arrived meaning not only did they cost the bank a hell of a lot of money but they had almost tore Peter's mask off. Right now, Peter is so thankful they didn't. "This kid seems out of control, he needed back up but instead he threw himself at armed robbers." 

"We all know somebody who is a little reckless-" Thor smirked as he nodded over to Steve, who was sat innocently against one of the chairs. Peter knew that his pop's had been often reckless on missions, like they time he threw himself out of glass elevator and his dad had been so mad at him, they had argued. In the end, Dad couldn't stay mad at him and Peter found them asleep on the couch together ten minutes later. "Maybe you and Spider-boy should hang out." 

"Very funny-" the blonde rolled his eyes, before glancing over his shoulder at Peter. Realizing that Peter was starring at them all with a look of horror plastered against his face, the smile was replaced with a worried expression on his pop's face. "Hey, pete? You good?" Peter nodded instantly, a little too fast he noted as he stood up- "Can we go now?" Peter was desperate for his parents to accept his demand and follow him out of the room instantly, he was afraid they would figure it out and he'd loose them. He couldn't live without them. 

When Peter whispered a "please" Steve was standing up and putting on his brown leather jacket. They said their goodbyes- Steve and Tony more then Peter. The teenager noticed the concerned look that was on Natasha's face, she had spent a lot of time around Peter while he was growing up and was probably confused why he was acting so distant to them and clingy to his fathers all of a sudden. 

"Hey wait up-" Tony called out as they entered the car park, Peter was already too many steps ahead of them as he raced to get to their car. The brunette shot Steve a look which could be read as 'what is up with him?' before he was unlocking the door and letting Peter jump in the backseat. As Peter sat in the back and Steve started to drive out of the lot, he watched the way his dad smiled at his pop's as pop's said something and in return dad reached over and placed his hand on pop's hand. They were a family, they were Peter's parents and Peter felt sick- what were they going to do when they found out? Peter could not just stop being spider-man, he needed to help people, what was he without the suit? But on the other hand, he is nothing without his parents. 

Peter walked in between his parents as they headed inside the grocery store, there was only a few people outside and Peter flinched when a women rushed over and headed straight towards Steve. Peter was used to reporters and fans surrounding them, but imagine how many more reporters would appear if it was exposed that Peter was spider-man. Peter couldn't do that to his dad's, he knew how much they hated it already. Tony placed his hand on the back of Steve's back and placed his other on Peter's, guiding them both to the entrance of the shop and suddenly the boy could breathe again. 

"Hey? Are you still not feeling well?" Steve whispered as Tony walked off to get a cart, much to his misery. "You look pale." 

Peter shook his head, not trusting his voice. He simply moved forward until Steve got the hint and he was wrapping his arm around the boy's shoulder, maybe if he never let go, Peter's worries would just go away.


	2. somebody

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter had never been the popular kid at school, but he always had Ned.

“Heads up!” 

Peter groaned the second the ball met his face, causing him to take a couple of steps back. 

Blinking quickly, he glanced up to see a not-so-guilty looking Manuel stood a few steps away, hands up to try prove his innocence while he laughed. “Sorry man, didn’t see you there.” 

Now Peter didn’t exactly stand out by himself, all he was known for was being the top of his science class and the son of Iron Man and Captain America. Other than that, his awkward self was pretty much an outsider. 

Manuel rushed past, taking the ball from peter and returning to his group of friends leaving peter to stand in the oversized basketball area. The silence was fortunate, until the ever so fimiliar voice of his own best friend broke it- “Sorry I’m late- missed the bus.” It took peter a few seconds to turn his head and take in friends outfit choice. Ned was always forgetting his clothes for gym class, hence why it didn’t come as a surprise to see Ned dressed in an outfit that totally didn’t match and he had obviously borrowed. 

“What you looking at?” Ned snapped his fingers, gaining Peters attention and dragging him away from his fashion disaster. “Oh- yeah, forgot my gym bag again.” 

For all the years Ned had been Peters best friend, the boy seemed to know the other one more than he knew himself. Like how Ned prefers chocolate milk on his cereal rather than normal, how he won’t go to sleep without his headphones on- which peter has always found irritating, especially when he crashes at peters house and while Ned is asleep, all Peter can hear is the sound of whatever band his best friend is obsessed with during that time. 

They were kinda inseparable, as much as it would pain the individual to admit it- without ned he’d be pretty much alone. 

“So, our physics project is due tomorrow.” Peter said as the boys passed the ball in between each other, they weren’t really doing much really- just trying to make it look like they were contributing to the class for the teachers sake. “Or did you forget that too?” 

“Of course not.” Ned rolled his eyes, throwing the ball back a little faster- much to Peters disapproval. “We can finish it off after school- my parents are redecorating though-“ 

Peter waved him off, “We can go to mine. Come for 6 though, Pop’s is making lasagna and I don’t want to miss that.” 

His best friend was just about to confirm that time but the ball that bounced off his chest stopped him, pausing his train of thought. Once again, one of Manuel’s friends looked un-apologetic as took the ball from Ned’s arms. 

“Can you get one- or both of your parents to beat them guys up?” Ned whispered, standing shoulder to shoulder with Peter as both boys starred back at the group of boys in their class. Fifteen year olds could be mean. 

“I’m not sure my dad’s would be up for beating up a bunch of fifteen year olds.” Peter shrugged, the boy couldn’t help but think of how ironic this all was- maybe he could beat them up as spider-man. “They’d probably get in trouble.”

“Yeah, but we all know that you’re their baby-“ Ned teased, “Don’t bother trying to deny it, I’ve heard both of them call you it at least five times.” 

Peter wasn’t even going to try to deny it, being the only child of steve Rogers and Tony Stark meant he was spoilt. Which is probably why when he was tired, or grumpy, or feeling any emotion that wasn’t good, he’d be off clinging to one of his fathers. Probably where he got the nickname baby.

Ned smirked and wandered off, bouncing the basketball by his side. 

Peter sighed tiredly as he pressed the button on the elevator which indicated their floor, the bonus of staying at the tower was that it was closer to school so he got home much quicker. The teenager sighed as he dropped his backpack on the couch and continued walking until he reached their kitchen, thankfully when staying at the tower THe you they had their own kitchen separate from the other avengers. This was useful because it meant that clint couldn’t steal all of his wheetos.

“Precious son of mine.” Peter span around with a bottle of orange juices held in his hand. His dad was stood in the entrance of the kitchen, a smile on his face as he twisted his wedding ring around his finger. “How was school?”

“Got hit in the face with a basketball.” The teenager replied while biting into an apple, his dad quirked his eyebrow and walked forward until he was putting his hand against his son’s face and turning it left and right. “I’ll live.” 

Tony smiled, patting him on the shoulder. “Of course you will.”

Peter grinned up at his father, only for the brunette to put his hands on either side of his child’s face and squeeze his face- something he repeatedly did when he was younger. “-Dad.” Peter complained, trying to struggle from his hold. 

“Just because you’re fifthen now, doesn’t mean you’re too old for a cuddle of your parents.” Pops said as he appeared around the corner, a laundry basket sat against his hip. He ruffled peters hair as he passed by him, only to be stopped by Tony who reached out and grabbed a handful of his shirt, pulling him into a kiss. 

“Ugh- Jarvis, help me.” Peter called out to the ceiling, another thing peter loved about being at the tower was the prescene of Jarvis. Peter was trapped between both his fathers, Steve chuckled and let go, giving Peter the chance to rush to the other side of the counter. 

“Can Ned come tonight?” Peter asked. 

Tony hummed, nodding. “Sure, always happy to see Ned.” 

Peter rolled his eyes, Tony and Steve loved his best friend for the reason that Ned was constantly amazed every time he was around his fathers. Ned would constantly compliment them, so of course his dads loved seeing him. 

“Can I go to the hardware shop down the street? I need to go pick up supplies for this project me and Ned are doing?” For once peter wasn’t lying, usually he’d make an excuse which was used simply so he could go outside and be spiderman for a couple of hours. Tonight, he actually needed to stop by the store. 

“Yup.” Tony said as he pulled out his wallet, passing Peter a few bills. “Don’t be long, you know how impatient your father is when you’re late for a meal-“ 

Tony smirked and dodged the effortless hit on his back, steve was aiming for with a dish cloth. 

“Love you, Peter!” Pops shouted as the teenager grabbed his backpack and headed towards the elevator. He shouted I love you back, because he was never old enough to tell his fathers how much he loved them, before he wasn’t pressing the button and rushing out of the reception before he could get distracted by his uncle clint or anybody else who happened to be hanging around there. 

Peter pulled his hood up over his beanie as he walked through the busy streets of New York, it was the tail end of autumn, which meant winter was coming-reminding the teenager to invest in a new pair of gloves. As he breathed small clouds appeared in his vision, emphasising the temperature of the city- he was suddenly regretting not asking one of his parents to drop him off. 

He entered the small store and shot the shopowner a smile before he was heading to the back of the store where he knew all the glue and crafts were. Logically, he could have borrowed all of this stuff from his dad- but the last time he didn’t that, he had lost some of Tony’s favourite equipment and he didn’t need that type of responsibility again.

There was a guy, possibly in his early twenties stood a couple of steps to his right. He had both hands shoved into the pockets of his black hoodie and he was starring ahead, peter shifted, preparing to look back at the stationary until he noticed the knife in the guys hand. 

His breathing quickened and suddenly all he wished was that he had brought his dads with him, instead it was just him...and the suit that was in his backpack. 

Leaving his backpack in a back street in New York City which contained his beloved sneakers and clothes, while he changed into his makeshift spider-man custome, was a bad idea. He knew it from the moment he walked back into the store as spiderman, but on the other hand, the guy was holding a knife in the direction of the innocent shop owner and Peter was the only one who could attempt to do anything. 

“Out of all of the places you could rob in New York City, it had to be this hardware store huh?” Peter spoke behind the mask, attempting to hide the fact that he was really just a nervous teenager who wanted his dads- and was actually spider-man. “Put the knife down.”

When the guy didn’t seem phased by the unknown superhero, peter sighed. 

“We can do this the easy way, or the hard way-“ as the guy span around and pointed the knife in peters general direction, he quirked his eyebrow- although he wasn’t sure if the man could see that. Maybe he needed a suit that highlighted his facial expressions? No- now wasn’t the time to think about that. “Put down the knife.” 

“I need this money.” The man shouted, his hand starting to shake which held the knife. “You don’t understand- you’re probably a fucking billionare behind that suit. Seriously, what are you? What gives you the right to play above the law?” 

“In all due respect sir, it’s you who is attempting to be above the law right now.” Peter said, as calmly as possible. He always felt uncomfortable when somebody referred to who he was behind the suit. “If you need help, this is not then way to go about it.” 

“Shut up!” The man hollered, holding the knife tighter again. 

Peter glanced towards the women behind the counter, she looked terrified and was looking at peter with hopeful eyes. Peter started to realise that he didn’t have enough time to just sit around and attempt to convince the guy to put the knife down, reacting on instinct the teenager rushed forward and pushed the man until he was slammed against a shelf of tins of paint. The force was enough for the man to drop the knife, giving peter enough chance to kick the weapon in a direction the man couldn’t reach. 

Using his last remaining power, he shot his webs over the mans hands- locking him in place. 

The women burst into tears and ran out of the store the second she saw the man was stuck, “The police are on there way.” Peter said calmly, he reached over and passed the man and grabbed a couple of pieces of equipment that would help he and Ned complete their project. Leaving enough money on the counter for the owner, peter shot the man one last smile before he was heading out of the store just as you could hear the distant sirens coming closer.

Peter couldn’t say he was surprised when he got back to the alley way to see his backpack had been stolen, it was New York City at night after all. 

His parents were really going to start questioning why they had to keep buying him new backpacks every couple of weeks. 

The hardest part was sneaking back home, careful for his parents not to see him he snuck into the window as quietly as possible. Climbing across the roof, knowing full well that if he landed on the ground, the floorboards would creek and pops’ super hearing would catch him out. His bedroom door was open only slightly, although he was confident enough that he reached over further enough he’d be able to close it and avoid his dad’s walking him while he was changing from the suit. 

As soon as he found himself close enough, he leaned forward and pushed the door until it closed as carefully as possible. 

He wanted to smile as he got down from the ceiling, pulling his mask off and breathing a sigh of relief- 

“Your parents let me in..” 

Peter span around to see Ned sat quietly on his bed, an expression of horror splashed across his face as he took in his best friend’s appearance. 

Shit.


	3. within us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s safe to say that peter wasn’t prepared for ned to find out

"Holy shit, you're-" 

Peter cut his best friend before the boy had the chance to finish, not only was he terrified of one- or both of his parents hearing what was about to come out of Ned's mouth, but he was also desperate to protect his secret before anybody else found out. Ned was stood up now, his hand holding onto Peter's mask that had been dropped onto the ground due to shock, the teenager was half dressed. His fitted makeshift suit clung to him as he looked down at himself, there was no way of talking his way out of this one. 

"please don't tell my dads." was the first thing Peter managed, in fact- this was the only thing that mattered. It wasn't that he didn't want Steve and Tony to know, actually, it would be a relief for his fathers to know. But, there was the underlying fear that they'd hate him for keeping this from them. "Please-"

Peter was panting and struggling out of his suit right before his best friend, he noticed the concern in Ned's eyes as he watched Peter tear the suit off himself until he was left in a pair of spotted underpants. Once the suit was discarded he was taking the mask from his best friends hand and shoving that along with the rest of the suit securely underneath his bed. "Fuck! Peter, you're spider-man." the boy did something that Peter wasn't expecting, he laughed. Peter found himself frozen suddenly, unsure what to say while Ned paced the small area in front of him. "All this time-" 

Just as Peter was about to defend his side of the story, the sound of his father calling his name broke the silence. Both teenagers starred at eachother for a few seconds before Peter leaning over and pulling a pair of sweats on with a hoodie that he was pretty sure was pops' because as soon as he put it on, it drowned him. "please don't tell them." Peter pleaded once more, he was relieved when Ned nodded and ushered him out of the room. They walked down the long hallway, Peter was biting his thumb anxiously while Ned starred at him in disbelief. This was going to be a long night. 

The teenagers turned the corner and entered the dining room where his fathers were, Peter rolled his eyes at both of them as Tony had his arms wrapped around Steve's waist and was kissing him, only stopping when Peter coughed and announced their arrival. Steve reacted by pushing his husband backwards, his dad threw a hand over his heart and fake gasped- some times Peter thinks if his dad wasn't a genius, billionaire, (not a playboy anymore, thanks to the beautiful wedding ring on his finger and the blonde wrapped in his embrace), philanthropist- his father could've been an actor. "Hey.. Steve's made enough for you to eat, if you'd like Ned." Despite being best friends with Peter for many years now, Ned always seemed to be amazed that he was actually sharing a room with Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. "Yes, thank you" 

"Have you both started your project yet?" Pops asked as he passed both teenagers their servings, there were many things Peter loved about his blonde father. One of those things was Pops' ability to cook amazing meals, even if right now he wanted to nervously throw up. Peter shook his mouth, while chewing down a mouthful of pasta. Tony and Steve took the seats in front of the boys, "How are your parents Ned?" 

Ned awkwardly gulped down his food before answering with a quick, "Good." Peter shifted and kicked his best friend under the table, he was desperate for Ned to start acting like his usual self because his parents started to suspect something was wrong. He knew once Ned was put on the spot with questions he'd expose everything, just like the time both boys got in trouble at school and when the teacher asked who did it Ned pointed at himself. The diner carried on as usual, his parents made most of the conversation between Ned answering their questions and then Tony having to rush off for fifteen minutes because Pepper had come up and told him somebody was on the phone for him, only for the man to return and finish his pasta. 

Right now, Peter and Ned were sat on the balcony of the tower- looking over New York City at night. Times like this, Peter really appreciated hanging out at the tower. As much as he loves their house and prefers it for the simple reason he gets his parents on their own, something that is not always possible- Peter did love the tower also. Ned was beside him, silent with the back of his head pressed against the marble wall behind him. They had been talking for at least an hour, Peter telling him how he became spider-man and how he got so good at hiding it, until Ned finally stopped asking questions- much to the teenagers relief. 

"You're careful right?" Ned suddenly asked, "I mean- I've seen footage of spider-man... uh, you. And, well-" the teenager paused, clearly frustrated that his words were flowing properly. "Just, i've seen you throw yourself in front of a bus to stop a crash, Pete. What if something happens to you?" 

Peter quirked his eyebrow, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Just ten minutes ago you were saying how cool it was." Ned had become slightly excited while Peter was talking about some of the problems. Ned chuckled softly, running a hand through his loose dark hair. A part of Peter was concerned that Ned was going to freak out and accidentally reveal everything to his parents. 

"Yeah, well." He pursed his lips. "You're still my best friend underneath that badass suit." 

Peter found himself smiling, suddenly feeling the urge to latch onto his best friend and hug him even if the hug turned painful. What Ned had just said was clear acceptance for Peter, despite him knowing about Spider-man, he still saw Peter as the same person he was before and that was reassuring enough. "Just promise me if you ever feel out of your depth, you'll tell your dads." Peter nodded against his friends shoulder and squeezed him a little tighter, which was responded by an uncomfortable grunt from Ned and a mutter of 'loser' before he was being pushed away with a laugh. 

"Ned get home okay?" Pops asked Peter as he walked into the lounge, Tony was typing rather furiously away on his laptop with his back pressed against his husbands chest while his glasses were barley clinging onto the edge of his nose. Dad shot Peter a smile in acknowledgment before he was turning back around and continuing working, clearly stressed by the emailing he was typing. "How's the project going?" Pop's questioned, they had spent two hours crammed in Peter's bedroom completing their project- Peter having to stop every so often to answer another question that Ned was so eager to know. He had just left Peter and he was already texting him about it.

"Done." Peter shuffled over all of the paperwork Tony had left scattered across the floor and nodded towards pop's arm, the one that wasn't holding Tony. Pop's got the hint and opened his arm so Peter could roll onto the couch and lay half on his parent while his other parent was on the other side of Pop's. Pop's ran his fingers through Peter's hair as the teenager latched onto his father, glancing over to see what his dad was working on. 

"What's gotten you so clingy, huh?" Dad joked as he shot him a glance and saw the way Peter was holding onto Steve, Peter figured Pop's was thankful he had super strength right now as he was holding onto a fully grown man and their teenage son. Peter shrugged against his fathers chest, looking over the mans shoulder to the fireplace. There was a vase on the fireplace filled with pop's favorite flowers and beside that was a photo frame which contained a picture of Tony, Steve and Peter. Peter was only eight in the picture and he was sat on his dad's shoulders, smiling at the camera. The teen never wanted to be without his parents and if it came too it, he'd pick them over anything, even spider-man. 

"I think you're getting a temperature." Pops said as he placed his hand against the teens forehead, Peter attempted to squirm away but there was no use- Steve was hugging him back just as tightly and causing him to laugh against his fathers chest. 

"You're both incredibly cute." Dad stated, although his eyes didn't move from the laptop screen. "I mean- i'm practically crying over here."

Peter whined and pushed his fathers shoulder, grumbling, "not cute." which he now realizes it has made him sound like a toddler. 

 

Tony muttered something under his breathe that the teen didn't catch, but he didn't care- because spending time with his dad's, being teased or not was his favorite time of the day. 

But, he still couldn't ignore the anxieties that were building up- what if he lost them?


	4. hold on

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter knew he was going to regret accepting the invite to the high school party as soon as he said he'd go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't stop listening to hold on by chord overstreet atm, so the chapter is totally named after that song

Peter starred at his reflection in the mirror, he was stood in his parents bedroom because of course his dad put the best mirror in the house in their bedroom. He pursed his lips, trying to figure out whether he should leave the top buttons of the shirt he had put on open or not, it wasn't every day he was invited to a high school party- in fact, the only reason he had been invited was because Ned- rather annoyingly announced to their whole gym class that Peter was friends with spider-man himself. Ned had explained to the class that being the son of Steve and Tony, of course he knew who spider-man was, which caused Manuel- one of his least favorite people to brand them both liars. 

Despite this, Peter and Ned had been invited to the party on the promise that Peter would bring along spider-man. Now, stood in front of this mirror he was rather dramatically regretting opening his mouth. 

"Hot date?" His dad asked, with a smirk evident on his lips as both of his parents entered their bedroom, Steve trailing after Tony with a bottle of aftershave that Peter had asked his pops to go grab for him. Dad had been down in the workshop all afternoon meaning that pops had prepared their son for his first high school party, for Steve this meant going through the health and safety rules and making Peter promise to stay away from anything that looks even remotely dangerous. 

"He's going to a party." Steve answered for Peter, passing their teenager the bottle of aftershave. Peter rushed a 'thanks pops' before he was holding the bottle up to his shirt and spraying it randomly, Tony rolled his eyes- taking the expensive bottle from his sons hand and spraying it on the teenager himself. Peter squirmed, only stopping when his dad placed both hands on either shoulder. "Our baby is growing up-" tony teased, pulling the teenager impossibly close before reaching out and grabbing Steve. 

"Ugh, Dad-" Peter groaned, but still continued to hug his parents nether the less. 

"We're dropping you and Ned off." Tony said as he let go of his husband and their son, shooting a sarcastic smile in the direction of Pops who was chuckling at his husbands behavior, which wasn't unusual. "No arguments." Peter wasn't even going to attempt to argue with his dad, he knew the man was stubborn- maybe not as stubborn as pops but close enough. 

"Finally! No kids for the night, just..me" Tony reached forward and grabbed a handful of Steve's shirt, pulling his husband against him once more. "And you." Peter laughed, he didn't need to be a grade A student to figure out what his dad was hinting at and he was thankful he was going to be out of the house tonight. 

Peter was out of his depth. 

He watched his parents drive off as he stood on the curb, shoulder to shoulder with Ned who was rocking excitedly on the heels of his sneakers. Peter would've rolled his eyes playfully if he wasn't slowly dying inside, he had brought his suit with him and as each student passed them he regretted even thinking this would've been a good idea. "Come on pete! This will change our lives, we will be popular-" Ned grabbed a handful of Peter's jacket and started pulling the teenager towards the entrance. 

Flash was on the DJ booth which a number of people were dancing around, Ned was talking beside Peter- although he wasn't sure whether or not he was taking any of it in. "Spider-man can come in, tell everybody you and he are friends and-" both boys fell silent when Michelle Jones appeared in front of them, the girl was holding a cup filled with punch that looked rather unappealing while supporting a tired frown on her face. "You really came to this lame party?" 

"You do realize you are also here?" Ned shot back, which caused a look of offense to flash across the girls face. It was ignored however when Peter's attention was drawn towards Liz who was wandering down the hallway with a drink in her hand, she was wearing a light blue dress and her hair was sat perfectly on her shoulders- and peter was pretty sure he was in love. As she got closer, the boy became more and more nervous, shoving Ned slightly who was now apparently smirking beside him. 

"You guys came!" Liz had been another student who had took interest when Ned decided to announce to their gym class that Peter and Spider-man were apparently friends, which was probably the reason Peter is here right now. Peter realized he and Ned most likely looked like two deers stuck in the headlights, because Liz wasn't really somebody they usually had conversations with. "There's pizzas and drinks, feel free to help yourself to anything-" 

"Dude! What are you doing? Go put the suit on-" Ned started pushing him down the hallway that Liz had just walked down, "She'll love it." Peter couldn't help but wonder what his parents would think if he did this, it was bad enough that they didn't know he was spider-man but to be presenting him as some sort of party trick- "No, Ned. I can't do this." Maybe it was because he had a visual image in his head of Steve and Tony's disapproving faces, but he knew that whatever he was about to do was stupid. 

"Peter Parker!" Flash's booming voice over the microphone broke his train of thought as he turned around to see all eyes on him, even Ned was shuffling behind him trying to figure out what was about to happen because neither boys had gained this much attention- "Where's your friend?" 

So yeah, maybe that's how Peter ended up on the roof of the house party, his plaid shirt and jeans on the floor with his spider-man costume on his body. Attempting to push aside the thoughts in his head that were his parents telling him to stop being stupid, Peter glanced down towards the party where people were gathering and Ned in particular was stood waiting for Peter's return. 

the sound of the wind being knocked out of him caused him to look away and towards the distance where a vibrant blue light was seeking its way throughout the gaps of trees. He wasn't denying the relief he felt when he rushed off the roof and away from the party, in the direction of the light that was clearly not supposed to be there. Peter thought about Ned while he was running across the large golf course, he didn't have time to tell his best friend he had to leave which meant that Ned would think Peter had panicked and ditched him- the boy made a mental note to say sorry to his best friend once he was back home. 

As he got closer he was able to see where the light was coming from, in fact it was who it was coming from. There were two men, stood under the bridge holding a large metal device that caused Peter to slow his movement down- there was a good chance that if they heard somebody moving around them they would react and Peter really didn't feel like being shot with this thing. Whatever the device was they were storing it in a back of their van, where another man appeared reminding Peter he was severely out numbered. 

The sound of his ringtone and Ned's photo ID appearing on his iphone caused the three men to fall quiet, the guy holding the gun turned on the other two men in his presence and pointing the target at both of them- shit shit shit, "You set me up!" the man roared, venom spitting from his lips as he looked in between both men. 

Dropping from the top of the bridge, Peter landed on the ground with a thud that caught the attention of all three of them. Not giving himself chance to recover, he looked at all three of them- "Look if you're going to shoot anyone, shoot me." Peter waited for the man to turn around fully and aim the gun at him, Peter shot his web and ripped the gun from the guys grip, dropping it to the floor, only for the man to shoot straight into his stomach, literally knocking the wind out of him this time. 

"What was that?" Peter groaned, as he pulled himself up off the ground he saw the men attempting to get all the devices into the van and drive off, Peter couldn't help but whine as he reached forward and attached his web to the door of the van, meaning as the van moved he moved along with it, even if that meant being dragged painfully across the road. Whoever was driving clearly didn't care about the bones in Peter's body as they turned the corner and Pete's body was thrown into a garbage can, although he managed to keep his grip on the van. 

"Great!" Peter shouted, as the guy sat in the back of the van shot him again, the door of the van swinging off so Peter lost any grip on the van he had. "Guess i've gotta take a short cut-"

The short cut meant running through somebodies garden, "thought you got away from me didn't you?" Peter said, more to himself then anybody else as the van came back into sight- he passed a couple more rooftops, gaining enough speed to be able to jump onto the top of the van- Peter was half way through a cheer when he lost control of his own movements and he was being pulled upwards. "What the fuck?" Peter shouted as he looked up to see something- shit, he couldn't even figure out what it was holding onto his shoulders and pulling him up, a little too high for Peter to be comfortable with. Whatever it was had bright green eyes and a great grip on him, making it virtually impossible to free himself although as he looked down he questioned whether or not it would be appropriate to let himself fall. 

Just as he questioned attempting to free himself, the- what was he even supposed to call it? dropped him, leaving him to fall through the sky at an uncomfortable speed until he was thrown into the water below him with a thud. 

"fuck." Peter dragged himself up from the water and onto the nearest rock, attempting to catch his breathe as he turned his head and saw something had fallen from the sky with him. 

He wasn't sure what that thing was, but he was sure as hell going to find out.

"I thought we said we'd pick you up from the party?" Dad asked as Peter attempted to sneak in later that night, Steve and Tony were on the couch, Steve already fast asleep and hooked underneath his husbands arms while Tony was still awake watching whatever movie they had been watching. 

"Uhh? I wanted the walk?" His dad narrowed his eyes, probably trying to work out why Peter was lying but he pushed it aside as the boy came over and sat beside his parents. Tony reached over and ruffled his sons hair, only to pause with a frown- "Why are you wet?" 

"Their was a pool?" Peter lied quickly, 

He was getting too good at lying.


	5. too much too young

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sometimes peter forgets he is only a teenager

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings: Nightmares (violence and torture- also distraught character)  
> btw i haven't included all the cool stuff (like Karen) in Peter's suit yet, just because i feel that it should stay Tony's job to do so. And since he doesn't know yet...

_The metal chains dug into his boney wrists, causing dark blotches of red to appear as the skin broke. He whined in pain, whichever way he attempted to turn the metal created deeper cuts - leaving him no choice but to lay on the wet ground almost lifeless. His chest was rising and falling at an uncomfortable speed, each breath feeling like it could be his last._

_Peter was crying, bloodshot eyes and red puffy cheeks were unseen as he was pushed into the corner of the abandoned warehouse- no light close enough for him to see anything, or anyone else in the oversized room._

_"Aw look, he's crying-" the distant voice teased, Peter wanted to be angry- he wanted to use any remaining strength he had to remind whoever these guys were that they couldn't do this to him. But, the teenage part of Peter that overpowered any strength he had with Spider-man was terrified, he was in pain and he had no idea how to solve this situation. More voices filled the room, sounds of chairs being dragged across the hard floorboards caused shivers to rush through Peter's spine, the thin red hoodie he was wearing becoming no use to protect him from the cold. And then the lights flicked on._

_He sobbed, cried, wailed- like a baby- any bully he has ever had from school would have said, but right now he didn't care because his parents- his dad's were tied to two chairs in front of him, both covered in bruises and blood. Peter continued to cry, they didn't even look alive._

_**This is your fault** , a voice in his head said. _

_"Dad..Pops.." he could barley make his own words out, tears clouded his vision and he was hardly breathing anymore. His parents had followed him here, they had tried to protect Peter- it was all Peter's fault for coming here in the first place. "Please, please.. don't leave me. I need you."_

_The men stood around his parents snickered, clearing enjoying the distraught fifteen year old tied to the wall._

_He gasped as his pop's head shot up, Steve's blonde hair was covered in dried blood and he looked half dead- to put it nicely. Peter wanted to throw up but cry with happiness at the same time because pop's was still breathing, he was still alive- "Pop's..please-" he didn't know what he was asking for, he just wanted to be out of this place with both his parents alive and healthy. He promised himself that if all three of them get out alive that he'll never be spider-man again._

_Then his pop's was calling his name behind the weak rope that was held in his mouth, between his teeth. "Peter- Peter! Peter!"_

 

"Peter!" 

Peter shot up from his bed, his brown hair swept across his forehead and stuck there from the sweat. He was hyperventilating, reaching out and grabbing onto the first thing in his vision- which happened to be his pop's t-shirt. Peter was still crying as Steve wrapped both arms around his son, pulling him impossibly closer while Peter clutched the blue fabric and then he looked over his pop's shoulder and noticed his dad sat on the other side of Steve, looking heartbroken for his son himself. After a few minutes of crying into his pop's chest, he calmed himself down- his throat stinging and his eyes sore. "Shh, baby. You're here, you're home with me and dad. Nothing is going to hurt you." Pop's whispered as he repeatedly kissed his sons forehead, while dad moved around his two favorite people so he was on the other side of Peter and could hug him also. Peter used to have continuous nightmares when he was little, when he was around eight he would have this nightmare that would repeat himself every night, and therefore every night he would end up in the middle of Steve and Tony.

"You wanna talk about it?" Dad asked, smiling sadly down at his son as he brushed the bangs from his eyes. Peter shook his head instantly, how could he explain that nightmare to them. Thankfully, dad seemed to understand and instead opted to press a kiss on Peter's forehead. "You're shivering, come on-" both men moved off the bed so the teenager could get back him, once he was lying down again, Steve covered his body in his duvet and blankets until Peter could be considered a human burrito. For a moment Peter thought his parents were leaving,  but both dad's knelt down by his bed and started talking- Peter could breathe again. 

"Happy broke my favorite mug today, you know the one that say's world best husband on it?" Tony said casually, Peter wanted to hug both his parents for not making a big deal over the nightmare. He knew, that because they cared about him they would bring it up again- but that would be a different day, right now they were more concerned about calming Peter down. Steve faked gasp, throwing a hand over his heart which caused a small to spread across Peter's face at his parents comical humor. 

"Let me guess, you were mad at him for the whole day." Steve said casually, both Tony's husband and son knew how dramatic he could be and if he was being completely honest, he knew it himself too. 

"Obviously." Tony shrugged. "I am the world's best husband. He probably did it because he's jealous." 

Peter chuckled, causing both men in front of him to turn around with matching smiles. "There's that laugh i love." Pop's said, before leaning over and placing his hand over Peter's forehead. "It's 6 in the morning. If you don't feel up to going back to sleep we can all wake up-" Steve shot Tony a look, "Yes, that means you too Tony." 

"No, it's okay. I'm okay now, i can go back to sleep." Although pops didn't look exactly convinced he pressed his lips to his sons forehead once more before dad did the same and both men were leaving the room, muttering between themselves. It was okay, one more hour and Steve would be coming back into his room to wake him up for school and he'd walk into the kitchen to see his dad crouched over the breakfast table with a coffee in his hand complaining about it being too early. 

He was okay. 

 

"First we put the glowy thing in the mass spectrometer-" Peter loved Ned for many reasons, he could make him laugh even when he didn't want to laugh, he was loyal, he would do almost anything for him- but most importantly, Ned could be considered his sidekick. Peter had brought the- well, Ned had described it as the glowy thing that the teenager had found by the side of the water a couple nights ago when he had been dragged into the skin by that thing with the green eyes. Anyway, Peter had brought it into school in attempt to figure out what it was and more importantly who that thing was that owned it. 

"Fine. But we need to stop calling it the glowy thing, it makes it seem way less cooler-" Peter stated, there's a part of him that wished his parents did know about his lifestyle because there is a good chance his dad would be able to find a name for this piece of metal within minutes. 

Walking down the hallway, Peter was glad that most students were in class to avoid this conversation being overheard. It was bad enough people were so noisy about his personal life with his fathers rather than them overhearing that he had his hands on some unknown equipment. His thoughts were crushed the second he turned the corner to see two guys- no, not any two guys, the two guys that had tried to kill him only a couple of nights ago headed towards him. Peter reacted instantly, dodging out of sight so he was hidden behind the nearest wall- leaving Ned stood in the middle of the corridor looking rather confused. 

"They were the freaks that tried to kill me!" Peter whispered, dragging Ned closer to him. 

"We gotta get out of here." Was Ned's first reaction, the smart part of Peter would have most likely agreed with him. But then there was the other side of Peter, what he most likely got from his parents what meant that he wanted to follow them. 

"I'm following them. They'll lead me to the guy who dropped me in the water." Peter started to move in their general direction the second the guys turned the corner, Ned attempted to reach out for him- only for his arm to be batted away. He'd rather Ned stay here to avoid him being hurt in any way. Peter followed them down to one of the school labs, they were talking to each other- discussing the fact that there were no signs of the weapon here. One great bonus of being spider-man was his ability to cling onto any platform, this meant hiding himself under the nearest lab table, meaning that both men walked past him completely oblivious to the fact the teenager could see their movement. The guy wearing the dark combat boots started to walk up the stairs, giving Peter enough time to shoot a tracker onto him, allowing the small spider to crawl up the leg of his pants.

Pretty smooth if he did so himself. 

 

"Shh.. Pop's and Aunt Tasha are just in the next room." Peter whispered as Ned held the small lit up device in between them, rather than doing homework like he told pop's they were going to do- they were sat on Peter's bed with the tracking device in between them. "They're in Brooklyn." Peter stated, looking at the hologram. Ned, who was completely amazed by the device continued to prod the hologram until the image became fuzzy, causing him to stop. 

the night passed painfully slow, Peter and Ned forced themselves to stop the guys every movement which was apparently moving across New York- from Brooklyn to Staten Island. They found their selves around the dining table with Steve and Tony, Tony talked for most of the diner which was good because Peter couldn't help but feel distracted by the device in his bedroom. 

"Peter!" Ned shouted, throwing a pillow at his best friends head. Peter shot him instantly, he had been hanging from the ceiling from half an hour and he was pretty sure all the blood that was in his body had rushed to his head. "They've stopped, finally. Maryland." Ned said quickly, leaving him basically breathless. "It's like 300 miles away, how do you plan on getting there?" 

Peter knew how he was going to get there, it wasn't too far from DC and he knew for a fact that the school's decathlon team were heading to DC in the next couple of days for a competition with another school. 

Yes, that was it. Peter was rejoining the decathlon team. Flash was going to be so pleased. 

"Pops!" he shouted, now he had to convince his parents to let him go at such short notice. 

 

"Hey!" Peter had managed to convince his dad's to let him go to DC, despite Pops being a worrier and Dad being stressed under pressure- the teenager managed to convince the team to take him back. Much to Flash's annoyance, Peter was pretty sure that the only reason he was allowed back on the team was because the teacher liked him. Peter sat on the school bus, they were heading to DC while practicing quiz questions- MJ sat behind him while Liz was in front of him, Just as Peter himself was about to anwser a question and hopefully impress live his phone was ringing and a picture of Dad appeared on the screen. Peter sighed and stood up, excusing himself from the front of the bus and moving down the isles until he saw the seat next to Ned- who still happened to be tracking the group in Maryland. 

"Hey, Dad." Peter said casually as he threw himself down on one of the seats. "What's up?" 

"Did you take your phone charger? Your favorite hoodie? What about your toothbrush- i know how forgetful you can be." Peter wanted to groan, because he was capable of remembering to bring his own toothbrush without the assistance of his parents. "Dad! I've got everything okay, beside Pop's checked that i had everything before i left this morning." 

"Don't do anything stupid, i want you home in one piece." 

"Dad, i'm going to DC for a decathlon tournament- not on some kinda party party cruise." To be fair to his parent, the last school trip he went on when he was thirteen, Peter ended up fracturing his arm. So he figured they had the right to worry. 

"Yeah, Yeah. I love you, kay? We both do." Tony said quickly, Peter could hear Pepper's voice in the background and Peter was pretty sure that Tony was being rushed into a meeting. 

"Yeah. Love you both too." and then Tony was hanging up, Peter couldn't decide if he was pleased or upset about this. 

 

hours later, Peter was once again frustrated by people doubting his abilities to do anything adult like. Right now, Ned was suggesting that what they were going to do was illegal and he even used the term 'your dad's would hate it' Peter figured his dad's would hate a lot of things he does. "I need to prove myself Ned." Peter argued, maybe this was his way to come clean to his parents- if he successfully took down this group of guys with the weird alien guns, his parents would see that he is capable to be spider-man..right?

Peter was suited up, leaving Ned in the hotel room with the 'glowy thing' what they were apparently still calling it- which apparently made him nervous. "They're moving. Hurry..and be careful!" Ned called out just as Peter shut the door behind him, walking down the balcony of the motel the group were staying at. Peter turned and headed towards the staircase, stopping the second he saw Liz making her way up it. Yes, she was still completely beautiful. "Uh, hey Liz." he said, a little too casually. 

"Perfect timing." she grinned, "we're going swimming." 

"Uh, i was going to study?" Peter lied, it seemed like it was way more believable then the truth. 

"No, no way. You don't need to study." she chuckled, "Get your trucks on, go get Ned and come on!" she threw a candy bar at his chest, but Peter being Peter let it drop onto the ground- a little too nervous to react. She chuckled once more and rushed off, following the rest of the group towards the pool. 

Peter really wanted to follow her. 

But he was Spider-man, and Peter was the son of Steve and Tony- therefore he never did anything the easy way. 

 

Peter sat on top of the lorry, allowing it to move him across town. However, painfully- most of the journey was on foot, meaning Peter had to force himself to run half of the journey- until he reached a gas station that looked awfully uncool considering what Peter was expecting. Seeing the three main men stood around the nearest van, he noticed they were in the middle of something- he was ready to get a little closer. He jumped down from the street sign he had been sat on and carefully moved around it, moving closer until he could hear the men's voices. 

After listening for a few moments, it was clear that they were in the middle of a heist. Holy Shit- he could catch them red handed, his dad's would be so proud and-

Peter glanced up, seeing the leader of the group- the one with green eyes and wings that could give Uncle Sam a run for his money (not really, nobody could beat uncle sam's wings), appear in the distance. the man was targeting a moving van now, ripping off the roof and dropping himself into it- Peter instantly followed him. "Hey big bird! That doesn't belong to you!" Peter confidently called out as soon as the man was back on the roof, a metal cage in his grip. Peter shot his webs out and grabbed hold of the cage, ripping it from the man. 

It took the man a few seconds to react, turning around he activated his wings and shot in Peter's direction- knocking the teenager of his feet. Peter groaned, regaining his strength for a few seconds before he was jumping back up, only for the jumped up bird man to steal the cage right back- he pushed Peter backwards, giving him one swift kick to the stomach which was enough for the teenager to stumble even further backwards- "Shit" he groaned, as he fell back into the van- flat on his back which was enough to take the wind out of him. 

Before he could make his escape the roof of the van was being sealed shut and he was trapped, Shit. 

He should've gone swimming. 


	6. Hero and I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter has never been too good with heights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI!!!   
> Although i'm just going with the flow while writing this, i think Steve and Tony are going to find out soon. I haven't figured out how yet or when, but i'm getting there.

Peter was panicking- no seriously, more than he had ever panicked before. 

After spending six hours locked in an over sized warehouse with only his suit to entertain him, Peter had realized he was going to be late for the decathlon. At the time being, that didn't seem like too much of a problem, that was until he discovered the 'glowy thing' that they still hadn't decide a name for was dangerous. And that Glowy thing had been left with his best friend who was in a crowded area right now with a bunch of students and a whole audience, so you could say Peter was panicking. 

Right now he was laying on top of a moving truck, which was going at an uncomfortable speed on the highway- thankfully, after spending a whole night trapped in that place another van had left the warehouse giving Peter his opportunity to escape. Ned was not answering any calls, meaning the teenager and the rest of the decathlon team had already started, Peter was so going to be in trouble if his parents found out that he had missed the event. 

"NED!" Peter was running, out of breath down the strip in Washington- his phone was pressed against his ear as he desperately attempted to get his best friend to listen to him. They had just finished the decathlon and by the sounds of it they didn't need Peter after all, since they won.

"Ned! Listen to me!" Peter shouted, he was still wearing his suit which was apparent by the number of people glancing in his direction right now. "Where is the glowy thing? Right now...Where is it?" Peter still felt stupid labeling something so dangerous the glowy thing but at the same time he didn't have chance to ask the villains what they called their weapon. 

"In my backpack. Don't worry, it's safe- i haven't let it out of my sight." That's what Peter really didn't want to hear. Peter looked up and saw the Washington Monument in front of him, he was totally out of breathe and was starting to regret all those times he skipped gym class. Peter could see MJ sat across the path from the monument, head shoved into a book- if she was sat here Ned and the others had to be close by. 

The overwhelming sound of crushing brick broke his train of thought, he cast his eyes up towards the large monument, eyes focusing on the highest point of the figure which seemed to be collapsing in on itself. "My friends are in there-" Peter glanced towards MJ, his natural reply would've been to freak out because underneath this suit he was still Peter and MJ's friends happened to be his friends. However, right now he was Spider-Man which meant that MJ had no idea who he was right now, other than the simple fact that he was Spider-man suddenly appearing at a disaster, which wasn't unusual. "Everything is going to be okay-" Peter stopped himself from saying MJ's name, and running past the crowd that seemed to be gathering to watch the disaster. 

Peter groaned the second his body collided with the building, it was incredibly high and he was most likely going to have to cling on while he crawled the remainder of the building. Height's and Peter have never gone together, sure, he'd throw himself across skyscrapers in New York City no problem but he had never found himself in a situation which meant he was going this slow. You would think Peter would be okay with height considering the amount of private jets he has been on with his fathers, but then again there was also the time he threw up all over himself on a roller coaster at six flags. 

"Oh god, i,m gonna throw up-" Peter complained, glancing down at the height he was at now. It was becoming too hard to simply crawl up the side of the building, even his webs were straining against the grip of it and by the looks of it he was running out of time. Times like this he realizes why his parents would kill him if they found out he was Spider-Man. The only point of access to the building Peter seemed to have was the small window ahead of him, even that seemed like it was going to be hard to get into. At the same time Peter was anxious over the idea of what would happen if he didn't hurry up, his friends- his best friend, and a bunch of other innocent people were trapped in there and by the looks of it Peter was there only hope until the emergency services appeared. "This is the worst day of my life." he announced out loud, kicking his red boot against the glass of the window it didn't seem to do anything, it took another five kicks for Peter to realize that a simple kick was not going to break this glass. 

"You're not going to die. You're not going to die." the teenager repeated as he shot a web slightly above him, leaning backwards until his weight was being supported by nothing but the web holding his body up. The police cars were appearing below him, a helicopter hovering around in the air with a police officer hanging over the edge, a radio pressed against his lips- "Identify yourself-" Peter ignored him, throwing his body back into the window with his feet first attempting to break the glass. It smashed only slightly, "Stand down! Return to the ground right now!" 

"If you don't stand down, we will open fire." If his dads weren't going to kill him, this police officer pointing a gun at his back defiantly would. 

Maybe he was totally reckless, but he lost his grip on the building and allowed the wings of his suit to allow him to glide underneath the helicopter, enough warning for the police to start shooting the building ahead of them, clearly confused by the spiders sudden movement. Peter built up enough strength from the helicopter to throw himself through the already cracked window and straight through until he was landing on a shattered glass filled floor. "Ugh..." was the only sound that escaped him, his head painfully turning to the side he was able to see what was happening, finally. 

It was clear that his friends were stuck in the broken elevator shaft, the awkward sound it was making suggesting that they were hanging on by a thread. As painful as it was for his arm, he shot a web out- apparently just in time as it latched on to the top of the shaft and held it in place- the sound of the decathlon team's screams filling the disaster around them. Peter wasn't going to lie, he wouldn't be able to hold them up much longer- the weight of this elevator happened to be more painful to hold up then the bus that he had crashed his whole body into once. 

Just as Peter was going to let himself breathe, his whole body was thrown forward and he was landing in the elevator shaft in the middle of a number of shocked teenagers who just happened to be his friends. The amazement that was plastered across Ned's face would have been funny if this situation wasn't so serious, with the extra weight in the elevator the shaft broke away and started falling down the shaft at an impossible speed. The screams started again, which happened to be very distracting for Peter who was laying uncomfortably on his back of the elevator- reminding him of the time his dad forced him on Tycoon at Red Flags. He most likely would've thrown up again if it wasn't for the possible chance of all his friends dying..

Thankfully, the web managed to catch on to the top of the shaft so they were simply hanging in their air. The screams filtered out, until it was just panicked breathing filling the air. "That was so cool!" Ned cheered, causing the elevator to shift uncomfortably. Peter only lost his grip on the wall slightly but it was enough for him to shoot the boy a death glare through his mask, maybe it was because they were best friends but Ned instantly got the hint and fell silent and stayed still. "We haven't got much time, so hurry." Peter encouraged as the firemen reached down and started helping the team out the elevator. 

It was when just Liz was left in the shaft that Peter was unable to hold it up any further, the girls scream was enough to knock Peter into action and he shot his web out and latched onto her hand. The tears pooling around her eyes as she starred back at his mask covered face as he lifted her up and onto the safe platform was enough to bring his heart rate back to normal. Whatever moment they were both having was broken the second he fell through the shaft himself, his body being thrown against the walls as he fell down- the last thing he heard was the sound of their decathlon teacher shouting 'thank you'. 

 

Peter stood in the crowded car park, his hands shoved in the pockets of his hoodie and his hood up protecting his hair from the rain. The boy smiled slightly as he watched Liz's mother run over to her and grasp her into a tight hug, close by were Ned and his parents- their teacher had contacted all the groups parents and had asked them to come pick their kids up after what happened. Peter was expecting Aunt May to turn up soon, from what Peter remembered his parents were in meetings all weekend. 

"See you at school, Peter!" Ned called as he headed towards his parents car, the teenager waved slightly watching as his best friend left. Liz shot him a small smile as she and her mother passed him, Peter wondered how she would react to him if she knew he was the guy who saved her life. Flash walked past him and did the usual thing he did when he was around peter, ignored him- the ironic thing was, just a couple of hours ago Peter was the one saving Flash's life. "Pete?" whatever he was thinking about was instantly abandoned as he span around at the sound of his pop's voice. Coming up behind him were his parents- now as much as he adored Aunt May, the instant relief that washed over him the second he laid eyes on his parents was amazing. "Come here you-" he threw himself at his parents, both of them managing to catch him at the same time. 

"You gave us a scare then, kid." Dad sighed, running a hand through his sons hair. Peter could hear the clicking of cameras and people clearly starring in amazement at Steve and Tony being here- but right now Peter didn't care. Didn't care that there was most likely going to be hundreds of photos of him online tomorrow, just him being hugged by his fathers like a little kid who had just been traumatized. 

"Can we go home?" Was all Peter managed, forcing himself up on his tip toes he looked over his pop's shoulder and made eye contact with somebody stood behind them- clearly half way through talking about their love for Captain America and Iron Man. 

"Yeah, kid. We can go home."


	7. another brick in the wall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter has to face the the dangers that come with being Spider-Man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas!! 
> 
> (I am going to start trying to write longer, more detailed chapters. gotta catch that motivation)

"Dude! What does it feel like to be famous when nobody knows it's you?" The whole school was buzzing over the fact the decathlon team were saved by spider-man, in fact Peter had walked past at least ten groups of people today who had been discussing it. It was not like Peter wasn't known, when he first joined this high school he was instantly known as the kid of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, but never before has spider-man been so praised by his fellow students. "Really cool." Peter grinned, walking beside his best friend as they passed through the crowded corridor. The video footage of spider-man was being shown on one of the schools projectors and a group of students were surrounding it. One girl was gushing over Spider-man being her new favorite hero, Peter instantly felt the heat rise to his usually pale cheeks. "But..That doesn't mean you're allowed to tell anyone." Peter added, knowing how desperate Ned was to tell the whole school that his best friend was the guy behind the mask. Ned, although regretfully, accepted Peter's choice and nodded towards the stairwell. "You coming? We have that math test in five minutes?"

"Uh, i can't. I really need to find the guy who has been doing all this-" His math teacher was probably ready to kill him, and if his parents were to find out that he had been skipping class they would be sure to kill him also. But at the same time, the avengers were busy with other issues in the world and it seemed like Peter was the only one who really knew the dangers of this guy. Just as he was about to spin around after declaring 'school could wait' he came face to face with the principle, someone who was shooting a displeased look in the teenagers direction.

Now, he was already in trouble for ditching the decathlon and now declaring that he was about to skip school in the middle of a busy corridor meant that he found himself in detention rather than outside and attempting to save New York City. He was sat in a almost empty classroom, with his sneakers-clad feet pressed against the bright blue school chair in front of him while the stone faced teacher sat a few desks ahead of him, fast asleep. There were two guys sat a few desks to his left while MJ Watson sat behind him, completely distracted by her notebook.

To make matters way worse he was starring at his fathers face, it had been only a few months from when his pop's had been brought out of the ice and as he was seen as the nations hero the government were desperate to get him to promote the idea of a positive way of life. His pop's was on a tape being played on one of the old fashioned TV's that the school still used- Pop's was talking about how to redeem yourself after getting detention. Peter didn't really see how this was far because he would most likely go home and get another speech similar to this whereas the other students in here were not related to the guy on the screen.

His foot was tapping anxiously against the floor as he scanned the room, the teacher wouldn't even noticed if he slipped out. He had no idea who the two guys were so they most likely wouldn't react if Peter decided to make a getaway. And as for MJ, she was too busy drawing to even notice if the boy were to slip out- right?

Peter bit the bullet and grabbed his backpack, rushing out of the room before the teacher had the chance to wake himself up.

Peter probably knew that it was a bad idea to go by himself to spy on a guy who could be potentially dangerous, especially when he felt completely unprepared and was expecting almost anything to happen. Last time he tried to overthrow these guys he ended up locked in a warehouse for the night- anyway, Peter apparently didn't learn from his mistakes as he crept through the empty car park in his suit with the hope that the guy he was going to bump into would be friendlier than the last. As soon as Peter caught sight of the dark haired guy who was rummaging through a car boot, he acted. As the guy placed his left hand on the bonnet, Peter shot a web and trapped his hand from moving- instantly, the guy glanced up, a frowning casting across his face.

"Dude- what the hell?" The guy shouted, clearly not expecting Peter to appear from nowhere. Peter somehow felt happy about being able to sneak up on this guy- this somewhat reminded him that he was still a teenager who enjoyed winning petty arguments. "Let me outta this shit!" He groaned, tugging on his hand although it made no signs of being able to get himself free. Peter was thankfully for that and his trusty webs.

"The guys you're selling these weapons too are dangerous." Peter stated, ignoring the guys comment before. "You're putting the city in danger by selling them."

The guy frowned, "You.. what you said that night. You said 'if you're going to shoot anybody shoot me'. That was pretty ballsy-" Peter knew he recognized the guy as being one of the guys from that night he had found himself locked in a warehouse. Peter classed this as a positive for being able to attempt to get information out of the guy. "Look. I don't want these weapons in this neighborhood. My nephew lives here and i'd like to keep him safe and protected for as long as possible."

"Who is the guy- you know, the one with the wings?" Peter asked, he figured the guy would most likely not tell him out of concerns over his own safety- and Peter would understand that but at the same time he needed to complete his mission which was ultimately putting a name to that face.

"Look, i don't know anything about him, okay?" The guy huffed, still attempting to move his hand- You'd think he would have gotten the hint by now that it wasn't going to go his way. After all if he were able to free himself- and he would sure as hell have to channel hulk to be able to do so- Peter could just reweb him. "All i know is he is crazy and you should be careful if you think about going after him-"

Peter raised an eyebrow from behind his mask. "Does this mean you know where he is." "Right now?" The guy said, "No." he took another pause, looking around the car park as if he was contemplating whether or not to tell Peter any information. "But he's going to be on the ferry to Staten island later today-" That's how Peter ended up on the Staten Island ferry when he should've been in a math test. The ferry was busy, Peter can't recall the last time he actually went on this ferry- Aunt May took him on it once when he was about twelve. This time was under completely different circumstances. He had his eyes on the target, this guy- peter had never seen him before, but he was sat on the middle deck a magazine abandoned on his lap. Peter could hardly see, what with being latched onto the outside of a moving ferry and only having a small window to peer through- it didn't help that there was a women sat in front of the window now making it even harder to see. There were a group of guys on the front deck, conveniently looking like they were waiting for something. Peter could see at least three of them were holding weapons in their arms. He crawled over the deck above them, waiting till each of them looked distracted before shooting a web and latching onto the first weapon he could catch- "i'll have those!" Peter called out, landing on the deck with a thud. All men turned in his direction instantly, all supporting the same angry expression as they starred ahead at him. "Oops sorry!" he shouted again as he threw two guys against one of the nearest walls, both of them dropping their weapons as they were thrown. A few men behind him looked ready to charge, Peter managed to knock another few guys down before the sound of a guy being slammed against a van caught his attention behind him. A middle aged guy stood a few feet away from him with narrowed eyes and Peter would feel intimidated if it wasn't for the suit he had on. Just as Peter was about to make contact with the unknown man- "FBI. Everybody get down."

Peter froze, this was not part of the plan. "What do you mean? What is going on?" The FBI were surrounding him by now and he was painfully aware that the guys selling the weapons could be escaping right now. Just as the women who was pointing a gun in his direction was about to speak both Peter and the FBI turned around to see a pair of metal wings heading in their direction. It was now clear who that guy was- yup, the bird guy who dragged him up by his shoulders and dropped him into the sea and also the leader of this group. "What the hell-" the officer beside him breathed out, stepping back slightly as he took in the metal- peter wasn't sure if he had a name, in full.

The guy was holding one of the weapons, clearly aiming it at Peter- "stand back!" the teenager shouted, just in time for the guy to fly forward and just as Peter thought he was about to be dragged with him the guy flew over his head and turned around so he was back facing Peter. Peter shot his web out, attempting to latch onto one of the metal wings although they were too big and sturdy to keep hold of- the officers around him were trying to shoot him- each bullet hiting right back in their direction. "Get out of the way-" Peter tried to stay as polite as possible as he swung past an officer who was attempting to reload their gun, clearly their attempts to shoot this guy down was failing and their only hope was to let Peter attempt to bring this guy down himself. Unable to bring the guy down as the weight of both him and his suit was too heavy for even Peter's suit to handle, Peter went for option B. That was to grab the weapon from the guys hand. Surprisingly, Peter managed to grab the weapon and yank it- quite forcefully, from the guy. Peter dropped the weapon on the ships deck, watching as it glowed rather vibrantly making the teenager second guess his decision. "You're messing with things you don't understand." the guy shouted, Peter squinted. Looking between the guy and the weapon which was becoming brighter each time Peter looked at it. The guy was gone the next time he turned to look, apparently making his great escape- however, Peter couldn't be too worried about that right now because the weapon was shooting purple laser beams up onto the top decks and slowly tearing the ferry in half. Peter's heart rate sped up an uncomfortable speed as the ferry begun to separate and the passengers on board started to scream. Peter almost sobbed as he shot a web out in and latched on to either side of the ferry, the pain in his arms was unbearable and he knew if he didn't think fast everybody on board- children, families, innocent people would be dying- because of Peter.

Peter attempted to keep the ferry together from both sides by creating webs in between the cracks. He was panicking, and there was no way even his webs could keep a ferry of this weight pressed together nor keep the people on board safe. Peter attempted to catch his breathe as he landed on the top breathe, heat beating against his chest while he thought about what his parents had been saying only a few weeks ago- _he's a kid, he's putting himself and overs in danger_ \- he should've listened, he should have told his dad's that he was spider-man, he should've done everything differently- 

the webs began to snap, which didn't come as a surprise to Peter. The passengers who had seemed to settle after seeing spider-man attach his webs to the ship started to scream again, each one of them scurrying to the sides of the ferry where they were attempting to cling onto. By now water was filling the ferry, pushing all of the cars that were on the ground deck into people- the ferry was ripping in half and the only thing Peter could do was latch a web on either side of the cracks and hold on to them- allowing his arms to be stretched to the impossible while the ferry pulled against the webs. He was screaming, by now Peter couldn't decide whether it was with terror or the utter pain of having to hold two sides of a ferry with only his arms. 

Just as Peter was about to pull his webs tighter, his feet were touching the floor of the ferry and his arms suddenly could breathe again- "What the hell?" he said out loud, there's no way he could've done that himself- 

His questions were answered the second he followed the sound of cheering- Iron Man was pushing against one side of the ferry and slowly it was being pushed back together. Peter would've been relieved, really he would- but right now Iron Man- his dad- is here and he's already caught sight of Spider-Man- "Yeah! Iron Man!" A guy on the deck cheered, clapping his hands together until everybody joined in. Peter wanted to hide- despite the fact that Iron Man had clearly seen him and he had no where to hide even if he wanted too. 

 

"What were you playing at huh?" Peter froze, he was stood on the docks- all the passengers were safe and off the ferry now- leaving spider-man stood looking at the wreck he had made of the ferry. Peter had his backpack by his legs, he was just about to rush off and get changed so he could be Peter again and go back home and most likely pretend non of this even happened while his dad told his pop's about his run in with spider-man- that was until Iron Man landed beside him. "I don't know what you think you were doing back there, but by the looks of it you're just a kid. What would've happened if i didn't turn up?" 

Those people would have most likely died, Peter thought to himself. 

"You can't do this by yourself." Iron Man- dad- shouted, Peter suddenly wanted to cry. Usually when he cried, he'd go get comfort from his parents. Pop's was always the one who would wrap him up in his strong arms and press kisses against his hair while dad would try make him laugh, until Peter was smiling again. Right now though, dad was stood in front of him- completely oblivious that he was scolding his own teenager. "Look-" Peter glanced up when he realized his dad had stopped talking, actually he was too busy starring at the backpack beside Peter's feet. "Where'd you get that bag?" 

Maybe it was the way his dad was looking or just the question in general but Peter just wanted to get out of this place as quick as possible. "It was...it was just left on the ferry-" Peter attempted to push the backpack behind him with his foot, but Tony was quicker and reached forward, picking it up with ease. Peter watched in horror as Tony scanned the backpack with curiosity, dragging his finger across the all too familiar rip above the zip- Tony narrowed his eyes. "Take off your mask." He could hardly breathe behind his mask so the idea of taking it off sounded nice- apart from the fact that his dad would see Peter who was totally supposed to be in a math test right now behind the mask. When Peter made no movement to take his mask off, Tony unzipped the backpack himself and held up a sneaker- turning it upside down he pressed his thumb against the faded initials that were written in black marker on the soul of the shoe- it took all of ten seconds for Tony to glance back up at spider-man. The bag was dropped. "Take your mask off, _Peter_."

Peter choked on his breath, with a shaky hand he pulled the mask from his head- instantly wanting to plead, beg, his dad not to hate him. He couldn't get any words out however. 

Although it felt like hours, a minute passed before dad was shaking his head- turning his head away and looking anywhere but his son. "Please tell me.." Tony paused, trying to decide what to say. "All this time?" 

"Dad-" 

"No, Peter." He snapped, causing Peter to flinch. "All this time- all those times you told me and your father you were going to see Ned? Those late night classes? You sat around and listened to me talk about spider-man-" 

"I wanted to tell you-" Peter cried, moving forward and latching onto his dad's hand- he looked at the wedding band on Tony's finger and thought about pop's face when he found out- he couldn't go through this a second time. 

"You're fifteen years old, Peter." Tony moved backwards, reaching down and picking his sons school bag up. "A child Peter- My child! You remember us, huh? Me and your father. You're our child, did you think about that when you were putting yourself in danger? What if something happened to you, Peter." Tony dragged a cold hand through his hair, completely frustrated. "Me and your father would've got the shock of our lives-"

Peter wanted to cry, "How am i going to tell Steve? He worries when you don't reply to your texts straight away he's going to flip when he finds this out-" 

"We can tell him i'm careful- that i know how to work the suit- that i-" 

His dad raised an eyebrow, looking at Peter with an unreadable expression- "You really think we're going to let you carry on? I'm taking the suit Peter, i'm telling your father because you're his son also and i don't keep secrets from my husband. I love you Peter, i'd give you the absolute world- but this? It's not happening, Pete." 


	8. when i'm small

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> maybe being a part time high school student and a part time spider-man wasn't ever supposed to work out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to make everything angsty in life apparently

"Hah- You're wrong. Remind me why we are friends again?" Peter's head shot up the second he heard his Uncle Sam's voice. Sam was loud in general but after sitting in Steve's office for fifteen minutes with Tony in complete silence, the first hint of laughter had him sighing in relief. Pop's followed Sam into the office, a smile spread out across the blondes face as he saw his son and husband sat there which was an unexpected surprise considering Peter was supposed to be at school and Tony had meetings all day. "Peter..Can you tell your father that i could totally take him in a fight. We've been arguing for half an hour now?" 

Peter glanced towards Tony who was still sat starring at the photo frame on Steve's desk. It was of Steve, Tony, and Peter. Peter must have been only nine at the time and he was wearing one of his pop's sweatshirts which was clearly drowning him and supporting the biggest smile- back to easier times. 

"Ignore him Peter." Pops said before the teenager had the chance to answer, his blonde father placed a comforting hand against his shoulder before squeezing it. "He's just grumpy because he got his assed kicked in the latest mission. How was school?" 

"Uh, okay? I guess." Was Peter's only reply. He couldn't help notice how Tony still hadn't acknowledged anyone else in the room, although Peter couldn't blame him. He had found out his only child was secretly spider-man only 56 minutes ago (to be exact) and it still hadn't sunk in. 

"Ah, teenagers. As talkative as ever." Sam teased, ruffling Peter's hair. The teenager watched as Pops made his way across the oversized office and stood beside his dad's chair, raising his eyebrow as he did so. It took Tony a few seconds to realize his husband was looming over him before he glanced up and finally made eye contact. "Hey sweetheart, you okay?" Steve asked, and Peter sighed inwardly- his pop's was the perfect person to go to for comfort. That's why Peter kinda wanted to run across the room and latch himself to his pop's side. Tony reached forward and grabbed his husbands hip, bringing him forward until the side of his head was pressed against Steve's lower stomach- it seemed that Tony had the same idea as Peter: get comfort from Pop's. 

"Eh, if you're gonna get all coupley i'm outta here." Sam announced, grabbing his coat and heading to the door. "I'll see you all later." 

And then he was gone. And it was just Peter, Steve and Tony. 

"Bad morning?" Steve questioned, running a few fingers through his husbands hair. Tony shrugged, looking unsure what to say. There was part of Peter that really hoped Tony would tell Steve for him- he couldn't bare having to say it himself. 

"We need to talk." Is what Tony said, for the first time in half an hour he looked towards their son. His expression wasn't cold- no it could never be cold when he looked at Peter. Peter was his child and he would love him forever, no matter what. But his expression was of hurt and upset. Steve's smile suddenly dropped, looking in between Tony and Peter he removed himself from Tony's hold and stepped closer to Peter. He hadn't looked at Peter properly since he entered the office, his eyes were somewhat red and from the looks of it he had a gash open on just below his hairline. Steve moved quicker and pushed his son's hair back so he could see the cut- "Have you been in a fight?" Was his Pop's question, and then he was kneeling down so he was face level with the teenager. 

And that's when Peter allowed a tear to escape his eye. 

Steve made a hurt sound in the back of his throat and placed both hands on either side of his son's face, forcing him to look at him. "What happened?" Peter looked over his pop's shoulder and towards his dad, who was sitting with his head shoved into his hands- leg tapping agaisnt the floorboard of the office. 

Peter shook his head, "You're gonna be mad. You'll hate me and you'-" 

"Peter, stop. There is nothing you could do to make me or your father hate you. We love you." Steve paused, looking over his shoulder to Tony and frowning. "You need to tell me what this is about Peter or i can't help you." 

"I lied to you." Peter sobbed, throwing his body forward until he was pressed against his fathers chest.

"What- Peter-" 

Tony shot out of his seat, dropping the ripped spider-man suit into a pile on the ground. It created a horrible sound as it hit off the wood and Pops was turning his head- suddenly alert of his movement. It took Pops all of five seconds to acknowledge the suit curled up on the floor, before he was looking back at their son which a look of confusion.

"I should've told you-" Peter cried, holding onto his pops tighter. Unexpectedly, Steve tightened his arms around the teenager- Peter had expected to be pushed away and locked in his room and grounded. 

"Yes, you should've." Tony said, walking past both his son and husband and picking up the suit from the ground. He headed towards the glass door of the office but before he was able to make his swift exit, Peter was reaching out and grabbing a sleeve of the suit, desperately holding on. Tony narrowed his eyes, "Let go of the suit, Pete." 

"No, Dad please don't take it away. I need to be spider-man-" His knuckles were turning white with the amount of pressure he was holding on with, however Dad never let go either. 

"No. What you need to be is a teenager, which is what you are. You're fifteen years old and god- anything Peter, anything to make you happy- you want to travel the world when you're older? Fine, go ahead. You want to drop out of school and join a band- I'm not so enthusiastic about that because i've heard you sing when you're in the shower and it's frankly awful. You want to study Physics at college? I'd be ecstatic. Anything Peter, to make you happy." he paused, looking down at the ruined suit. "But this, No. No way am i sitting around knowing you're throwing yourself into danger in New York City." 

"What like you and pops?" Peter shot back, tears still pooling around his eyes. "Every time you two go on missions you could die, then it would just be me and Aunt May. I' can do it, i've done it long enough." 

"Me and your father are adults, thats the difference." Tony shouted back, Steve finally moved standing up on the spot and rubbing a hand over his face. "And as one half of your parent i am telling you this is not happening, ever again." 

"Pops?" Peter looked at his blonde father for help. Steve just looked at him sympathetically, a look that read 'I hate that you're crying but i agree with your dad'. 

"Please, Pete. Just give your dad the suit-" The teenager looked defeated as he looked in between his parents. His eyes were bloodshot and his hair was a mess, there seemed to be no fight left in him. He choked out a sob before he was letting go of the sleeve, jumping up from his seat and pushing past both his parents. He heard Pop's call his name as he ran out of the office and into the reception of the tower, he didn't look back however- choosing to ignore the look of concern that spread across Natasha's face who passed him in the corridor he headed straight to the elevator. 

He didn't know how long it took him to Aunt May's, but suddenly he was stood on her doorstep and allowing her to pull him into a hug. "Hey, what are you doing here kiddo? I didn't think you were coming to visit today?" She brought him into the apartment and sat him down on the couch, he shrugged- thankfully he had managed to stop crying on the subway here. "Yeah..But, i just wanted to come see you."

"Aw, sweetheart." She passed him a drink and took a seat beside him. "How are your fathers? I haven't seen them for a while?" 

"Uh, Yeah. They're fine." Peter nodded, wrapping his hands around the hot chocolate. 

"Good. I'm always happy to see my beautiful nephew you know that." she pulled him into her side and he allowed himself to be brought into a hug, little did he know how exhausted he was from all of the crying and shouting that he would end up falling asleep in that right spot. 

A little over an hour later, Peter opened his eyes at the sound of voices. It took him a few moments for his eyes to adjust but soon enough he was seeing Aunt May stood in the small kitchen with his parents, Tony was pressed against the counter- still looking completely stressed but was clearly trying to hide it from May. Steve, as usual was the one who was directing the conversation- being all warm and lovely towards Aunt May. 

"Pete.." Pops breathed out once he saw the teenager stood in the doorway. Dad looked up slowly, "Hey, you should've told us you were coming by Queens. We thought you were with Ned." Peter shrugged, suddenly feeling guilty for bailing on his parents when they were supposed to talk about it. He couldn't help note how quiet Dad was being. 

"It seems you're going on a sudden getaway, Petey." May chuckled, "Lucky you." 

"What?" Peter questioned, he had school on Monday and homework and he was pretty certain that- 

"Your father wanted us to go away for the weekend, so we are going." Peter was surprised when his Dad spoke, although he didn't wipe the look off his face, still looking irritated and hurt. But at least he was speaking now. 

"Thanks for having him, May. You're always welcome at ours." Pops smiled as he was pulled into a tight hug by Peter's aunt, before Steve was leading Peter out of the apartment and after Tony who was already halfway down the stairwell. 

"What's happening?" Peter asked, he was thankful that the fighting had stopped but there was still the uncomfortable tension between the three. "Pops-Dad? Please talk to me." 

"Peter, listen to me. It's fine- it's okay. We are going to sort this out-" Pops turned around and placed his hands on either side of Peter's shoulders, the teenager took the opportunity to push himself into his fathers chest- not stopping until Pops arms were wrapped around him and he was sighing wetly. "I don't care right now- about avenging the world and the fact my fifteen year old son is spider-man. What i care about is Tony and Peter- my husband and son. And i care more about my family than being Captain America, your father being Iron man and you.." Steve paused, looking towards Tony who was opening the car door in a hurry. "So, we are going away- just the three of us. I am not letting this family be torn apart by this." 

Then Pops was turning around and heading towards the car. Dad was sat in the drivers seat, sunglasses covering his eyes with a tight grip around the steering wheel but they seemed to loosen when Peter got into the back of the car. "Camping. Ma used to tell me nature is the answer to everything." Pops said, he passed Peter his backpack and nodded towards Tony to start driving. 

Peter looked towards his dad, who caught his eyes as he did. This time when Tony looked at him his eyes were soft and comforting. 

They'd be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can confirm the next chapter is going to just be about Tony, Steve, and Peter as a family. I plan to make it really sweet rather than this chapter which happened to become an emotional rollercoaster


	9. mind over matter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> nature solves everything, Steve's ma would say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mind over matter by young the giant totally influenced the name of this chapter.
> 
> a little warning of discussion of nightmares and child loss. (apparently i can't write a chapter without making a little part of it sad)
> 
> I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and for those who don't celebrate it i hope you are just doing well in general.

It was known by almost everyone that when Steve and Tony first met, they didn't get along. While Steve saw Tony as an obnoxious billionaire that ran on coffee and sarcasm, Tony resented Steve for Howard's obvious adoration of the perfect super soldier and his goodie-to-shoes persona. All of that came to an end after Tony almost died while they were on a mission together and Steve gave up their on going battle and kissed his then future husband before they had the chance to argue again. 

That now, felt like a lifetime ago. Realistically, they had been together for many years and they had started to age together. Steve had watched as Tony's dark hair started to get small grey hairs and lines begun to appear beside his eyes whenever he smiled. 

Peter admired their parents relationship, they were always so honest with one another and secrets were unheard of because Tony and Steve trusted each other. The teenager figured that Tony believed their son didn't trust them because he kept a secret from then, when the reality is he does trust them, he trusts them enough to know that they would stop at nothing to protect him and protecting him meant not being spider-man anymore. The thought made Peter feel uneasy, he knew he had to listen to whatever his parents decide- he was fifteen after all and being disobedient has never really been Peter's nature however the thought of letting go spider-man feels like he is letting part of himself go. 

Peter hardly slept on the drive to the camp, Pops had said that they were not to discuss Spider-man until they were all calm and stable enough to have a serious conversation about it. That meant rushing off to the middle of the woods to be alone. 

"I went camping with Bucky once. We were about nineteen." Pops said as they all shuffled out of the car, it was ten o'clock and the stars were scattering across the night sky convincing Peter that maybe this wasn't such a bad idea. "I woke about 1am to a noise that i thought was a bear, turns out it was two kids making out. So the moral of the story is, if you hear a noise- don't automatically freak out." 

"And what if it is a bear, huh Cap?" Tony shot his husband a look, Peter could tell his brunette father wasn't too happy about this sudden trip. After all his father was a workaholic and being stranded in the middle of the woods without any mobile signal or internet was his idea of hell, but to make the maters worse Tony was still mad about the whole situation and usually when Tony is mad he prefers running off to his lab to be by himself. Steve wasn't allowing that this time. "I didn't see you packing your shield in that carryon." 

Pops rolled his eyes. "Then i guess we'll use you for a distraction." 

Tony muttered something along the lines of "Love you too." before he was walking off and grabbing a few bags and moving towards the open space where they were going to set up their tent. Pops looked over his shoulder to where Peter was stood, hands nervously shoved into his pockets and looking aimlessly towards where his dad had just walked. Steve sent Peter a said smile before he was being pulled into his fathers side, "If you see a bear you're supposed to walk not run, also keep your eyes on the bear to see how they react." 

Peter knew his father was trying to make light of the situation which is why he humored him, "And what if they react badly?" 

The blonde shrugged, "I didn't get that far in the book. Uhmm..hope for the best i guess?" The teenager managed a laugh at that, which caused a wide smile to plaster itself across his pops face.

Steve always figured he would be pretty good with putting a tent together, after all his mother loved nature which she figured was the only downside of the living in the city- the country side seemed like a long way away. The instruction manual that he held in his hands may as well of been alien language as the words in front of him seemed almost impossible to follow. Tony, the smug husband was sat on one of their pull up chairs with a smirk on his face. Steve had complained when Tony tried to take over, rushing out a series of protests along the lines of "no, i can do it." and "i am just as useful as you." Tony knew that soon enough Steve would give up and ask his husband for help. 

Peter on the other hand was watching from afar, one thing Steve did easily was make the fire hence why the teenager was bundled right beside it for warmth. 

Once the tent was finally built- thanks to Tony- Peter was first to fall asleep. The teenager was wrapped up in one of Steve's sweatshirts and his sleeping bag and had choose to shuffle towards the right side of the tent leaving the rest for his fathers. Tony was back on the chair he had been sat on before, legs hung over the edge as he attempted to count the amount of stars in the sky- when you have no phone signal this apparently was his only source of entertainment. Steve was sat on the floor by the legs of the chair, Tony was continuously running his fingers through Steve's hair who was reading one of his books. It was peaceful, too peaceful for Tony. 

"You think we should quit Iron Man and Cap and move somewhere completely different and i'll become some unknown science teacher while you become an artist and Peter can finally have a normal life. You know somewhere where he isn't growing up around avengers and aliens and-" Steve cut tony off who was seeming to babble, dropping his book he glanced up to his husband who was now nervously starring back down at him. 

"If you are blaming yourself for being Iron Man as the reason that Pete decided to be spider-man, then stop it now." Steve stated, reading his husband like a book. "Peter has his own mind, we have done our best as parents raising him and sure he might have grown up differently to other kids but one thing he had and always will have is our unconditional love for him. I know okay, i know what is going through your head." Steve paused, "The idea of our child being hurt and us not being there to protect him is physically painful, but he's our child. Let's be honest Tony, Pete has developed half your personality and half of mine- it was obvious that the boy would start giving us extra grey hairs at some point." 

Tony managed a small smile at that, Steve, his beautiful husband with the nicest blue eyes Tony has ever laid eyes on, was always able to cheer Tony up. Before Steve, Tony was simply a single, childless, bitter man who only had one source of comfort: alcohol. 

"He's a good kid Tones, we both know that." Tony did, in their eyes Peter was an angel and could do no wrong. Even when he was fourteen and trained one of Tony's own robots to command him instead of his father, Tony still thought their child was the most perfect kid going. Tony wasn't mad at Peter, he was angry at the idea of all those villains that have challenged spider-man, all those times Tony has gone into his office to see a newspaper or an online article which stated that spider-man had been thrown against a bus or almost shot in a fight with a group. Back then it was just spider-man, but now he was Peter and suddenly it became all too real. 

"I can't loose him Steve." A sob which the man wasn't expecting escaped Tony's throat as he spoke, and suddenly his husband was sitting up and wrapping his arms around the others shoulders, dragging him closer. "He's our child, i- i would die without him. You and Peter are my whole world, i love you both so much and the idea of us being separated physically hurts." Tony knew he was hard to understand by the way his voice was shaking but he continued anyway, "Pete doesn't understand. He think's we don't trust him like he is some child. It's not that."

"If we lost him-" Tony felt a tear roll down his cheek, landing on Steve's hand who was now cradling his face. "When i was growing up, i was about eleven. My mother had a friend, Suzie. She had a boy about my age at the time and he was always smiling and the healthiest thing- like seriously Steve this kid ate all his greens and everything. One day when he was walking home from school he got hit by a car. I still remember Suzie's face now, she looked like all the life inside of her had been striped out of her and she had died alongside her son despite her still being physically here. Sure, she carried on living- she had another child to support after all. But, i remember seeing her after the death of his son and she told me loosing your child is like loosing your soul. You're still alive but inside you're dead." Tony shrugged and wiped his nose, "I remember sitting there and thinking that i would never understand what it would feel like to have a child because i never thought i'd have one. Until i met you." Steve made a weak noise in the back of his throat at the sight of his husband who was finally opening up, Tony had told Steve a lot of stuff about his past- Steve knew him inside and out and whenever he opened up- he would listen. Forever if Tony wanted. "I fell so in love with you and then when we got married and you said you wanted a child, i knew i'd agree. Because finally, i wanted a family because of you." Tony wiped his eyes. "And when we got Pete, he was so quiet and vulnerable and i swore from that moment that i would never let anything touch him that i would never introduce him to all the bad things we have seen with the avengers. Finding out Pete was putting himself in danger felt made me think about life without him." "You know my nightmares?" it was no secret that Tony had nightmares, sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the night clinging to his husband and being unable to breathe. He would have nightmares about something happening to either Peter or Steve, nightmares about his past, nightmares about missions going wrong- about life- Steve on the other hand also had nightmares, the constant one of bucky falling from the train, his mothers death, Peter and Tony being gone and him being alone again like he was just after he came out of the ice-

"I had one not so long ago." Tony moved so he was fully pressed against his husband now, he was still talking in a hushed whisper careful to not wake Pete. "Peter had been hurt and it was all my fault- th-they couldn't save him. I can picture it right now, Steve." he cried. "Me and you were stood in the hallway of the hospital and the nurse told us his heart stopped beating, i felt it- his heart had stopped beating and god i wish mine had too." 

Steve nodded. Tony also knew a lot about Steve's childhood, he knew his father died back in the war and his mother, Sarah, died when he was a teen. But he also knew that as a child and a teen Steve was poorly, constantly in and out of hospital and on the verge of death too many times. "Before i got the serum i didn't think i'd ever have a child with anybody. Simply because i was too afraid my child would inherit my illnesses and i would suddenly be in my mothers position, where she's sit beside my bedside not knowing if i was going to wake in the morning."

Steve smiled sadly, "I got pneumonia when i was eleven. The nurse told my ma that i wouldn't make it through the night, i remember pretending to be asleep while my mother sat beside my bed side and cried. She talked to me, she told me that i'd never be alone because if i die i'll take a part of her with me. I never understood what she meant by that, now i do. She said if loving me would save me, i would never die. I guess what i am trying to say is that you never understand the pain of thinking about loosing your child until you are a parent."

Tony was starring at him with a look of complete heartbreak across his face, "I understand." he looked towards the tent, "But you know, Peter is stubborn and as much as we can try keep him in a protective bubble forever-" Steve continued

"We can't." Tony nodded. "I know." 

"But what we can do is make rules." Steve suggested. "Totally taking spider-man away from him would just mean he'd do it in secret, that would put him in more danger. But if we know he is doing it and what he is doing and where he is doing it then we can make sure he is safe. That he has backup that we can make sure he has all the protection needed. And we decide what missions he does, until he is old enough." 

"We don't have to make any decision now, all we need to do is be parents to our child and that means making him happy and feel safe. The hard stuff will be discussed."

Tony thought, just maybe they could make it work. 

 

 

"Pete, i'll give you a dollar if you walk across the lake." The teenager glanced over his shoulder with a look of disbelief across his face. The lake was shallow so there was thankfully no chance of drowning however he was wearing a good pair of boots and was unsure if he was willing risking it, however like Pops had just pointed out- buying another pair of boots wouldn't be a problem. 

"Just a dollar?" He quizzed. 

"Fine. Five dollars and i'll make you your favorite pasta when we are home." Amazingly, the teenager agreed to that deal and threw his backpack into his fathers chest who just managed to catch it before it hit the muddy floor. Tony who was stood a few steps behind of them, straightened his sunglasses that were hanging from his nose as he watched his husband and son while trying to hide a smile. Which he couldn't. 

Tony and nature didn't get along, everybody knew this. Tony would much rather be cooked up in his lab or somewhere else that simply had internet connection. Being out in the woods with no point of contact or no Jarvis was physically painful, he even had to replace his favorite sneakers for a pair of walking boots- although he couldn't deny the fact his husband had found some really comfortable ones for him. If it was anyone else Tony would have refused to go camping, but since it was Peter and Steve, he could never say no to them. 

"Don't fall and hurt yourself." Pops called out as Peter jumped from one stone to another, the boy smirked underneath the scarf he had pulled up over his chin to protect his skin from the wind- Peter had jumped from buildings between buildings in New York and Pops was suddenly afraid that Peter was going to slip from a tiny rock. "I don't know the nearest hospital and first aid isn't exactly my strong point." 

Peter chuckled to himself as he pretended to slip, this caused Pops to almost shoot him daggers and it was just a simple reminder that of course Peter loves to tease. He is Tony's son also. 

"That will be five dollars." Peter called out from the other side of the lake, "Now you both have to get over here so i can go explore over here." 

"I wish i had my suit." Tony muttered out from behind Steve, causing the blonde to chuckle. "Even better, i wish i was at home in my bed with a cup of coffee and-" 

Tony was instantly shut up and swept off his feet before he even had the chance to react. Once he realized the situation, which was that he was hanging over his husbands- who was insanely strong- shoulder while the blonde moved over the lake in an impressive speed which had Peter gaping at how better Steve did that then him- Tony was complaining and attempting to get away from the man. However, when they reached the other side and Steve was dropping him to the floor he found himself laughing. The first time in days, and he was laughing. 

"See Pete, i did that faster than you and i had your father over my shoulder." Steve said proudly, "I think i deserve to keep the five dollars." 

Peter wasn't going to argue with Pops. 

 

Tony was pleased when they had walked down a long (emphasis on the LONG) public path through the woods that had led them to a isolated but homely pub, that almost looked like a cottage it was so small but the open sign suggested otherwise. Tony of course was the one that dragged his son and husband in there, claiming that he was an ageing man and all that walking meant that he needed a drink. Steve had caved in at the simple fact that they sold his favorite flavored chips. 

The women behind the bar was sweet, she had grey hair that probably fell way past her waist but was tied back in a black scrunchie. She had a multicolored cardigan on and was laughing at something a man on the other side of the counter had said to her, overall there wasn't many people in the pub. In fact, Tony could count only four. A couple at the back drinking, the guy sat at the bar, and a girl who looked around Peter's age with a glass of orange juice in her hand. 

"Oh!" The women seemed surprised to see people enter, almost as if it wasn't usual to see anybody stop by who weren't locals of the small pub. A smile spread across her face as she moved quickly towards the center of the bar, almost ushering them closer. "What are you three doing here? It's freezing out there, you'll catch a cold." 

"Tell me about it." Tony muttered, earning a look from his husband. 

They ordered their drinks, Peter choosing a hot chocolate. "Do you live around here? I've never seen you three before?" the women questioned politely, it was nice- the fact that nobody in here recognized them. Wherever they had ended up was clearly a secluded place and they didn't care much about the media or what was happening with the avengers. It was nice, Tony thought. They seemed protected. Normalized. 

"We are just visiting." Steve smiled back, wrapping a arm around Peter who happily leaned back on his father for warmth. "Decided a stop off for a drink wouldn't be such a bad idea." 

"He your boy?" the women asked, nodding towards Peter. Peter liked that, everybody he knew all his life had instantly known that he was the son of Steve and Tony. This women had simply guessed that he was their child by the way they acted with one another. 

"Yeah. Our boy." Steve smiled as he looked over at Tony before running his fingers through his sons hair. 

"Well i must say you're a gorgeous family." She complimented, ready to walk away. They learnt that her name was Madalyn, she had run this pub since she was in her early twenties and she had just recently turned sixty five. She had run the place with her husband who had passed away two years ago, now she ran on the company of the locals of the pub. "Do stop by again." 

"She liked us." Peter smiled softly as the women walked away from their shared table in the corner, they had chosen to sit by the fire knowing the walk back to their camp would be cold. "I like it here." 

"We can move here full time if you like?" Steve teased, knowing that Peter loved New York too much to leave. So did Tony. 

"You don't regret it, do you?" Peter suddenly asked after a few moments of silence, "Becoming Iron Man and Captain America." 

"If i had never became Cap i wouldn't have met your father and then we wouldn't have gotten you. So no, i'd never regret that." Steve smiled as he pulled Peter closer to him, the boy glanced over to his dad who was smiling and looking so in love with Steve. Peter loved that. Peter gained the confidence to look at Tony and ask, "Do you regret it?" 

Peter was surprised when his dad reached forward and pulled the teen against him, for the moment the spider-man revelation was forgotten about as he clung onto his father. "Not for one second, Pete." Tony said, pressing a kiss to his sons head. 

"You don't hate me?" Peter asked, suddenly sounding very young. Sometimes he forgot the fact that he was still only young. 

"Hate you? I'd never hate you. I love you okay, me, you and your father are just fine the way we are. Right?" Peter nodded at that. "Good. Now, no more serious talk until we get back home. I bet we could get your father up on karaoke if we tried hard enough." 

Another hour was spent at the bar, the women- Madalyn, talking some more with them before she was wishing them well and they were leaving. As they stood outside, Tony pulled his husband towards him, a smile on his lips. "We're okay." he kissed him hard enough that Peter who followed them out of the pub whined at the public display of affection and muttered something about meeting them back at camp. It lasted two minutes before Peter heard a twig crack and he was rushing back and squeezing himself in the middle of his fathers for protection. 

He was always going to need his dads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There may be a lot of mistakes in this because i literally power wrote this- anyway, i hope you all have a great new year!


	10. with a head full of dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the perfect way to forget about spider-man is to focus on family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! I'm still here!

Peter smiled as he starred down at the black and white and slightly damaged photo in his hand, it was a photo of his Pops before the war. Pops had blonde bangs that looked like they needed to be cut with a neat dress shirt tucked into a pair of knee length shorts, long socks to complete. Beside Pops was Sarah Rogers, Peter smiled at the thought of her- his Pop's mom was so beautiful with the long hair that was held back in a pony with a dress that looked very worn out but she managed to pull off very well. Peter often thought about Pops life in the forties, that was where Steve's life was. He had his friends, or more importantly his best friend, Bucky (Peter can't count the number of stories that Pops has told Peter about him and Bucky, each and everyone he loved), his mother. 

Peter sometimes felt sad for Pops, not because Pops was sad, he loved Tony and Peter and they had gave him a reason to continue living a long time ago but Peter couldn't imagine putting himself into his fathers shoes and waking up seventy years from now with no parents, no friends, no familiar faces. Damn, Peter can't even go two days without seeing Ned. 

"Hey kiddo, what you looking at?" Peter's head shot up as said father entered the room, he must have just gotten back from his morning jog with Sam considering the sweat that had built around his forehead while wearing his favorite fitted shirt. Pops walked around the couch and grabbed a towel, wiping his forehead as he leaned over his sons shoulder to see the picture of a small Steven Grant Rogers hooked under the arms of his mother. Peter glanced up at his father to look for a reaction, Steve was smiling. "Huh, i still remember that day. Those shorts were a hand-me-down from our next door neighbor and Ma thought they were so cute she had to get a picture. Looking back at them now, they weren't all that cute." 

"Eh, i don't know Pops." Peter chuckled, holding the photo up to the light. "I'd say they were fashionable at the time." 

Steve rolled his eyes, sensing the teenage sarcasm radiating from his son. "I haven't got much stuff of Ma physically, but thankfully the seventy years of being asleep didn't take my memories away. I remember so much of her it was like it was yesterday." 

Steve continued, "She used to call me angel, said my eyes were brighter than any star in the sky and that i was a comfort to her- an angel because my Dad died only a couple of months before i was born. Ma always said i was so much like my father, that was a comfort to her because even though she had lost my dad she still had a part of him within me." Peter smiled at that, he loved the way Pops talked about his mom- he often wondered what it would be like if Peter ever got to meet Sarah- she'd have been grandma. "When Ma died i had them buried together, Ma wanted that." 

Steve sat next to Peter on the couch, holding an arm open that Peter gladly accepted and shuffled into a bear hug. "You know how i used to have really bad health back then?" 

Peter nodded against his father, clinging on a little tighter at the mention of Steve's bad health. 

"When i was little, i can't count the amount of times i was in hospital but Ma would always come and sit beside me and sing the same lullaby until i fell asleep." Steve brushed a piece of hair from Peter's forehead. "Worked like a charm everytime. You won't remember now but when me and your dad first got you, you used to have constant nightmares and it would take us at least an hour to calm you down each time- one night i sat in the rocking chair with you on my lap and sang the same lullaby my Ma used to sing to me back then. You fell asleep almost instantly, i always remember looking up at the sky and thinking- Thanks Ma, I don't know, it may sound stupid but i felt like she was there." Steve paused, "Like you and her had some type of connection because she helped me get you to sleep. I don't know- i guess i'd just really of loved for her to see you- to see me now, healthy with a teenage son and a husband." 

"I'd have loved to see her." Peter added, a smile on his face. Steve's face lit up at that. "Pops? What was the lullaby?" 

"Brahms Lullaby." Steve replied, "My Ma had the best voice in the entire universe, well at least in my opinion anyway." 

"Pops?" Steve hummed in response, still distracted by messing with his sons hair. "You know i love you right? You and Dad? Like a lot?" 

"I know, we love you too." Peter nodded contently at that. 

"You don't regret it do you?" Peter asked. "Taking the serum, becoming Cap? Leaving the forties behind and everyone you ever knew?" 

"Peter i will always miss the people and where i came from, the way me and Bucky would hang out at coney island for hours on end and only leave after one of us threw up- which was usually me and the way my Ma would smile- but i don't regret taking the serum, Pete." Steve looked down at his son. "If i didn't, i wouldn't have you or Tony. You two are everything." 

"Is that my name i'm hearing?" Both looked up to see a tired looking Tony entering their living room, he dropped a pile of papers on the table before pulling his tie off and escaping from his suit jacket. He smiled at his husband and son who were curled up on the couch and motioned for them to move up before he was sitting down on the other side of Peter and allowing himself to be pulled into their embrace. "How are my two favorite people doing?" 

"I was just talking about Ma." Tony smiled softly at that, he knew how much Sarah Rogers meant to Steve and he loved the smile that appeared on his face whenever he talked about her. 

"Oh yeah?" Tony said as he leaned forward and picked up the picture, "Look at cute little Stevie Rogers, the love of my life, huh?" 

"You both are sickening sometimes." Peter complained. 

"Have you asked that Liz to be your date yet? I bet she'll say yes." Tony asked. Peter knew homecoming was only around the corner and the idea of asking Liz shook him to his very core, maybe she would just flat out say no or maybe she already had a date- Peter couldn't decide but he knew for a fact he had zero confidence to just come straight out with it. 

"No dad, and i don't think i'm going too." 

Steve gave a concerned look at that, "But you really like her don't you?" 

Peter nodded and chewed on his lip, "But she's so pretty..." 

"Right?" Tony said slowly, "And you are also the cutest person i've ever seen." 

"Cutest? That's no good." 

Tony sighed, rubbing his face with one hand- "it's really hard to please teenagers." 

Maybe his parents were right, maybe Liz would agree and he would get everything he wanted. Sure, Spider-Man seemed out of the picture, at least for now but if he was going to have to be a simple high school student than he may as well try and have the best homecoming possible. Because it's that simple, Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to listen to the song Sarah used to sing to Steve it's Brahms lullaby by Jewel. Very cute.
> 
> also, this is a short chapter because i felt like i should update but i've been sooo busy. but anyway, next chapter will be longer and focus on homecoming :)


	11. a world alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Homecoming was here, Peter was going with Liz and everything seemed to be going a little too well for the teenager.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey.. sorry i disappeared for a while, i was basically either at college or asleep. I can be pretty unpredictable at times :p

Steve had always been an emotional parent. For example, Peter's first school science fair had involved lots of tears after Peter had won first prize and had been called a genius by his physics teacher- of course the blonde had told almost everybody that his and Tony's seven year old was the best kid in the world. Still, years later he would stand to that.

So, sue Steve for his eyes filling up with tears the second Peter walked out of his bedroom and down the stairwell until he was stood in front of his family wearing his homecoming suit and looking a little nervous considering his homecoming date just happened to be Liz Allen, who just happened to be the prettiest and nicest girl in the universe in his opinion. Peter couldn't help but chuckle when he was brought into a bone breaking hug by his blonde father, the man sometimes forget about his supersoldier strength and used it to his own advantage.

Although Peter would never lie, both of his parents were exceptional at giving comfort. "You look so grown up Peter, it was only yesterday you were dressing in your spaceship footie pajamas and-" Peter struggled but managed to lift a hand up in time to cover Steve's mouth, they were in a room with other people after all and Peter would only allow his parents and Aunt May to know that he still loved to sleep in footie pajamas. "I'm so proud of you, so is Tony." Steve nodded towards the man in question who was stood in between Natasha and Clint, a font smile on his lips as he watched his two favorite people.

"Pops is right." Tony made his way over to them, before leaning down closer to Peter so only the teen could hear. "Don't worry, we won't tell them that the spaceship pajamas are still your favorite-" Peter made a sound of protest at that but still allowed a smile to spread across his face as he hugged both of his dads a little bit tighter.

"Hey! hey, you're hogging him-" May grumbled as she pushed past the two parents and made grabby hands towards the teenager. Peter of course, the nicest kid on the planet returned her gesture and allowed himself to be hugged once again. He guessed this was a special occasion that meant hugs were part of the package deal, not that the boy minded.

 

"You got this kiddo, she's going to love your outfit!" Peter heard his dad call just before he closed the car door behind him. Steve and Tony had agreed to drop Peter off at Liz's in their car, not only did they want to check their son got their safety but it seemed only fair since Liz's father had wanted to drive the couple to the dance in his car. Tony had gone to object until his husband gave him the look that nobody would argue with, after all- whatever made Peter happy, made them happy. 

Peter however, now, was regretting letting his dads drive off as he stood at the front door of Liz's house. He checked his hair was still in place and the flower that was placed in the pocket of his blazer was still hanging on before he shakily, yes shakily reached forward and pressed the doorbell. it took a few seconds for somebody to answer which is why Peter had been awkwardly glancing down at his leather shoes- Tony had picked them out- when the door swung open. Peter looked up quickly, if this was Liz's parents he of course wanted to make a great impression-

"Hi! Peter, isn't it?"  _white noise_ it was the only way to describe it as Peter stood silently in front of the man who had just spoke, he was smiling, enough that their were crinkles appearing beside his eyes and his mouth turned upwards. The teenagers breathing hitched and he stepped back, stereotypical in shock. "Ah, no need to look so nervous. I may be Liz's father but as long as you look after my girl tonight we will have no problem-" the man was laughing in an innocent way that it almost became sinister because, 

Liz's father was the man who had tried to kill him. The man that had dragged him up into the sky and allowed him to drop right back into the water. Vulture. 

"are you going to come in?" Peter snapped back into life and nodded quickly, possibly a little too quickly that made him look awfully nervous. Although who could blame him, turns out the girl he has liked all this time is the child of the guy who wants to kill Spider-Man, who just happened to be him. Nether the less, Peter had promised his parents that he was going to have a good times tonight, be a normal teenager and that didn't involve Spider-Man. He had figured that out a while ago now. 

"Oh, it's lovely to meet you!" Liz's mom was lovely, all smiles and welcoming and Peter hated that he couldn't give his full attention to the suituation which was meeting his dates parents. Instead he was too focused on who the hell Liz had as a father. 

Liz looked stunning. Of course she did, although that didn't help Peter feel any better sat in the back of her dad's car while he played some awful soundtrack music and talked to Liz like a normal father would talk to his daughter. Liz continued to send Peter unsure smiles, most likely picking up on the negagivity that was rushing through the teenagers head right now- he almost wanted to forget about Vulture and take his parents advice: be a teenager. Maybe he wasn't supposed to be spider-man, maybe this is his opportunity to realize that and have a really great night with Liz- 

It was just... Peter couldn't. 

"So, must be interesting having a billionaire and a guy who was born in the twenties as your parents. Huh?" The man said humorously from the front seat, he caught sight of Peter's face in the rear view mirror and Peter swore he saw a flash of confusion as he did. Peter had been trying to avoid interacting with the man as much as possible anyway, just focus on Liz, he told himself. "So tell me. Have they made you your own little suit yet? Completing a family of superheroes huh?" 

Peter's expression clearly said it all, but the man remained emotionally. Clearly still expecting an answer. 

"What? N-No." 

"He's kidding." Liz assured with a light chuckle, maybe she just thought Peter was being overly nervous while meeting her parents. After all Peter had never been the most confident class mate of hers, not when you were in gym class with somebody like Flash. "He's like that. i'm sorry." 

Peter managed a smile at that, she was way to good to be the daughter of this man he decided. 

They pulled up outside the hall. There were already students surrounding the outside either arriving or waiting for their friends, Peter instantly spotted a group of girls looking eager to see Liz- he supposes that's what he gets for going to a dance with a girl who is popular. 

"Liz, sweetheart- you go ahead." Her dad smiled, nodding towards where her friends were gathered waiting. "Me and Peter are just going to have a little chat here." 

"Don't let him intimidate you." Liz muttered lightheartedly before she was opening the car door and rushing over to her friends. Peter kind of wanted to object, totally ignore the mans request and follow Liz out of the car because something told him that this wasn't going to be a 'lighthearted' conversation between a father and the guy who has taken his daughter to homecoming.

"I can tell you're a good kid, Peter." The man started, looking over his shoulder with a slight smile. It looked genuine, for now. "And that's why i am happy you are the one to take my daughter to homecoming." 

Peter could see that most of the students had made their way inside, Ned would be in their waiting for him with their friends, Liz and her friends too. "Which is why i know you're going to do the right thing tonight, you're going to make my daughter very happy and make sure she has a great night. Aren't you?" Peter found himself automatically nodding at that. "You have two options here, really. I hope you're smart enough to not do what i think you will-" And with that Peter was getting out of the car, evidently the man knew, he had to, if he hadn't figured out by now he was more stupid than Peter had thought. 

Thankfully, the first person Peter saw in the dance hall was Ned. He was stood with MJ and a couple of their friends, much to Peter's relief. Just be a teenager, Peter thought to himself- all he had to do was get through this night with his friends, make sure Liz has a great homecoming, it's what his parents will have wanted. 

But, Liz's dad was out there and about to do something that only Peter would know about-

"Peter!" Liz was calling him over, she was stood with a group of her friends who were about ready to introduce themselves to Peter and this had been everything he had wanted since middle school but-

"I'm really sorry." Peter was suddenly blurting out, feeling an ultimate sense of regret already. "I have to go- i'm sorry." 

He didn't stay any longer, instead he turned around and rushed out of the hall because Liz even had the chance to question a simple why. She deserved better anyway, he thought as he ran down the empty school corridor, ripping his blazer and tie off as he did. Dad would most likely be mad that he left an expensive suit on the floor of school for anybody to pick up, but then again he would be more mad if he knew what Peter was about to do. Lifting up a familiar set of lockers, Peter reached in and grabbed a spare suit that he had left in there months ago. Sure, this was most likely to get him grounded until he was eighteen but the sense of dread knowing the Vulture was out there overpowered his concerns of living the rest of his teenage years in his bedroom. 

He got himself into his suit quickly, running out of the school doors and into the car park. "You choose the wrong option, kid." A man who was tall enough to snap Peter in half most likely was stood there, he was clearly one of the Vulture's men which told Peter that he had expected Peter to rebel against his wishes. After all, Peter was the kid of Iron Man and Captain America- he loved to run into a fight. 

The man held up a weapon that Peter would never be able to name even if he tried, he aimed it right at the teenager of course. Until he didn't. 

Ned stood there, a look of shock plastered across his face with one of the weapons in question in his hand. That he had just used to knock out the man threatening his best friend. 

"Whoa Ned, good shot." Peter laughed, suddenly feeling a lot more confident in this plan. "I need you to track Vulture okay, and then i need you to get in contact with Happy- he's my dads security and he's going to want to know about this. Happy is at the old avengers tower okay- it's moving day and i need you to tell him what i am doing-" 

He didn't give Ned chance to reply, instead just started running towards the road- "Track my phone!" 

thankfully, just as Peter rushed onto the road Flash and his date happened to appear in a car. "I need your car!" Flash who was clearly in shock of Spider-Man appearing suddenly on his bonnet got out of the car, his date mirroring his actions. Peter could hear Flash shouting about that being his dad's car before he was turning the corner with only the concern that the only time he had really driven a car was when he was nine and he had been sat on Tony's lap in an empty car park. This time however, he was on a busy road and he had no father to help him not crash. 

the warehouse was cold, the sound of dripping water evident as he removed one of the ceiling tiles and dropped down into the area. According to Ned this is where he was supposed to go, he really hoped Ned had tracked this right. His worries were put aside almost instantly as he turned the corner to see Vulture himself stood surrounded by a bunch of weapons and looking pretty proud of himself. 

"How could you do this to Liz? She's your daughter." 

The man rolled his eyes, hands pressed against the dirty surface he was sat behind. "I'm doing this for her." he snapped. "Not all of us have had perfect set out lives Peter, your parents are billionaires- have you ever really struggled at all in your life?" 

"You think money is everything huh? Have you ever thought that she just needs you?" Peter replied. "selling weapons to criminals is wrong-" 

"How do you think daddy bought the tower, huh, Peter?" He sneered, just as Peter attached a web to his hand against the surface. Trapping him there. "the rich and the powerful are hypocrites." 

Peter didn't have time to reply, he groaned as he lifted his feet off the floor and he was dodging one of Vulture's machines, allowing it to nearly knock him over itself. "You're going to have to do better than that" Peter shouted, as he continued to dodge it. Much to the Vulture's amusement he nodded towards the warehouse walls, instead of aiming for Peter it was flying around the room, knocking down anything that was keeping the building stable. 

The walls crashed around him before he even had the chance to attempt to move out of the way, the last thing he saw was the smug smirk that flashed across the vulture's face before he felt his body being crushed underneath the fallen concrete. 

 

Peter whined, his breathing coming in within short breathes and his heart racing. It hurt, his body was pressed between two slabs of concrete and it was too dark to see a gap or way to make an escape- he tried to cry out but it came out as a gasp. That wouldn't get anybodies attention, he was ultimately alone. 

He didn't expect the sob to escape his lips as he attempted to shift. It hurt, Peter wasn't a usual crier- sure, he cried when watching Toy Story 3 and used to burst into tears every time Steve and Tony dropped him off at school when he was little. But other then that, until now he couldn't recall the last time he had really wanted to burst into tears.

Overall, he wanted Steve and Tony. 

"Come on.." Peter whispered brokenly, he shifted the concrete only slightly, struggling his way through the gap. "Come on, Peter, come on, Spider-Man." 

He wiped his eyes as he sat on top of the cracked concrete, his wrist was bleeding pretty badly from where it had scraped across the scrap edges. He was really tempted to just lay down, give up and maybe go home and admit to Steve and Tony what he had done. Maybe then he could let them try stop the Vulture, maybe that's what he should have done in the first place. 

But, the nagging part of his brain told him that maybe that this is what he needed to do to show his dad's what maybe he could be Spider-Man. But, that would be considered a totally selfish reason. What he really needed to do was go stop Vulture for the people in the cities sake. 

 

Of course, clinging onto the side of a quinjet flying through New York City at an incredible speed containing most of the Avengers property was exactly where Peter had expected to spend his homecoming night. Still, it didn't make it any easier clinging onto the side of a plane that was about to crash while fighting the girl he liked father. The plane was dropping at an unstoppable speed, he was already bleeding pretty bad and the idea of crashing into New York right now didn't give him the best chance of survival.

Coney island was where it landed. His ears were ringing as they adjusted to the impact, fire was spreading across the sand pretty quickly and Vulture was almost out of sight. Peter struggled to gain his balance, kicking off a piece of metal that had landed on his chest when the plane had broken apart. 

Vulture appeared from nowhere, just as Peter had managed to stand on two feet he was already ducking to avoid Vulture. The man lifted Peter by the hoodie of his useless, now torn suit and dropped him from a height that had the teenager gasping for breathe. With the remaining strength he had he latched onto the Vulture, pulling on the web that connected them both to keep the man on the ground. Of course, this gave him the advantage to slam Peter into the ground for the second time, only letting go when he noticed what he wanted in the distance. 

He lifted the large storage container with the grips of his feet, using his wings as strength to lift himself and the container from the ground. Peter looked up from where he laid of the ground of Coney Island. His eyes fell onto the Vulture's wings, the more he put pressure on the suit, the more they sparked- if he was going to continue trying to get both him and the container in the sky there was a high chance his wings would give up on him first.

"Your wings!" Peter shouted, suddenly realizing how hard it was to speak. "They're going to explode." 

Of course, the man either chose to ignore him or couldn't hear as he continued to move away. Peter shot a web out until it latched onto one of the wings as one last desperate attempt to stop Liz's father from killing himself without realizing, because no, he wasn't doing this for the man, he was doing it for Liz. "Go home Pete." The man shouted back, a smile on his face. "Say hello to your parents for me while your at it-" 

Peter struggled, he wouldn't be able to hold him for much longer- "I'm trying to save you!" 

Peter had to let go, falling backwards as he did. Vulture managed to lift off for a couple of seconds before he was crashing back down, his wings on fire as he did. If Peter was being the sarcastic teenager he usually was he would have muttered something along the lines of i told you so, but right now, that was Liz's father and she didn't deserve to find out this way. 

With Vulture over his shoulder, Peter walked until both of them were far enough away from the fire that it was safe. He dropped the man onto the floor, watching as he groaned out in pain and took a seat beside him, that way he knew there's no way he could disappear. 

 

The first person he saw was Happy. It must have been at least fifteen minutes later and his fathers security was rushing towards him, Happy clearly concerned knelt down in front of the teenager- only sparring a second glance towards the Vulture who sat beside Peter. Of course, the teenager had decided to attach the man to a piece of metal that had fallen with them, to avoid him making an escape. Peter was about to tell Happy he was okay, that there was no need to panic even though his boss's son was sat in front of him dressed as Spider-Man with cuts covering his arms and face- but before he could the sound of his name being called in the distance had him turning his head and-

That was Pops.

"Peter." the teenager shot up, suddenly forgetting about the Vulture and rushing towards his parent. He fell into Steve's arms, feeling a sense of relief when his pops wrapped his arms around him and held onto him tightly. Peter glanced over Steve's shoulder to see an agent saying something to Tony, however the man in question was simply ignoring the man and starring back at his son and husband in concern. For a second, Peter thought that his dad was going to freak out- that he was mad and he was going to be upset with Peter. 

But then he was rushing towards and grabbing Steve and Peter and pulling them against him, "I'm sorry- i-" 

Tony shushed him, pushing his hair from his eyes and reassuring him. For minutes they stood there, Peter just leaning against his parents until they heard the sound of a detective moving past them holding Liz's father in his grip. "You go any where near our child again-" Tony didn't finish the threat but there flash of anger that crossed his eyes. 

"You did good, kid." Steve said softy, pressing a kiss against his sons head. "We're here now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this will be coming to an end soon, :(( idk i might more some more of them as a family like as one shots part of this series or something. Idk, let me know if there's anything you'd like to see. 
> 
> But, this story isn't over yet so don't worry!!


	12. just one yesterday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was no Spider-Man or Peter Parker, they were just one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soooo.. this is the last chapter.. sorry it took me so long to update!! anyway, let me know if any of you would be interested in me posting one shots based after this fic or something along those lines.

Peter smiled and dropped his phone against the soft texture of the sand. He was laying on the beach, thankful that his Pops had plastered him in suncream before he was allowed out of the villa- as much as Peter would've complained that he wasn't a little kid who needed reminded of the horrors of sunburn, he wouldn't deny the fact he loved that Pops turned into a mother hen and checked up on Peter every half an hour to check there wasn't a spec of red developing on his sons face. 

They were in St. Barths, just the three of them and they had been for a week now. It was a last minute vacation that dad had suggested. Ned and MJ had been blowing up his phone on the group chat all week complaining about each other and Peter wasn't going to lie, he enjoyed the concept of him being missed back in New York. 

His thoughts were distracted as he heard the ever so familiar sound of his Pops laughing, he was met with the sight of Steve and Tony stood with another couple who were vacationing here with their one year old. Steve and Tony had made friends with the couple who apparently lived up in DC, Peter liked seeing his parents being a domestic happily married couple bonding with other married couples- the teenager had even been dragged out to a local restaurant last night to have a meal with this couple and their daughter. Peter had spent most of the meal entertaining the adorable baby girl while his parents watched on proudly- which had most likely prompted the conversation that Peter had overheard later on that night between his dads and the couple. 

One half of the couple was Sadie, she had said something along the lines of 'Have you ever thought of giving Peter a little brother or sister?' Tony and Steve had been silent for a moment but Peter had peered around the corner just in time to see his parents looking at each other in a way that read that they had discussed the topic of adopting a second child. Peter himself had never really thought about it but the look on his parents face was enough to get him on board, it would be cool to have a little sister or little brother. Maybe, one day.

Maybe if he did get a younger sibling they would turn out to be some undiscovered superhero that gave their parents an even bigger headache. As ironic as it would be, Peter figured it would be better if his little brother or sister just had a casual hobbie like painting or basketball. 

"There he is, our pride and joy-" Tony teased as the teen headed in the direction of his parents as the couple. Sadie and her husband must have been leaving for the airport now considering they were dressed in comfy clothes that didn't scream sunbathing. The little girl was held in her mothers arms, continuing to babble happily around her pacifier as Peter held a hand out and she latched onto it with one of her tiny fists. Peter was no mind reader but he swore he could hear his Pops mind ticking away as he watched the cute scene in front of him. "It was lovely meeting you all. Keep in touch." 

And that was that. 

"Can we get a dog and a cat?" It was around five hours later now, the sun was setting and the three of them were cooked up around a table in some fancy restaurant that had a menu that looked so detailed that Peter had just given his Pops the job of picking a main and a dessert for all of them. To everyone else they just looked like the casual family on vacation having dinner together- sure, apart from the fact that they had been recognized at least nine times but that part really wasn't important. "You wouldn't take away your only child's hopes and dreams would you?" 

"Peter, when did you become as dramatic as your father?" Steve muttered, the wine glass pressed against his lips. Both Peter and Tony called out a 'hey' at the same time, basically confirming Pop's point as they did so. "The answer is yes, just as long as the dog is a golden retriever."

Peter grinned, all teeth and everything. "Deal." 

"Did you ever have a dog back in the forties, Pops?" Peter asked, only pausing to thank the waiter who placed his pasta dish in front of him. Pops had clearly chosen well. 

Steve shook his head, leaning back into his husbands side who was holding onto him- or had been for the whole dinner. "I wanted one- Ma never would let me though, i had bad asthma and every illness under the sun so she was afraid that it wasn't a good idea. Looking back now a dog probably wouldn't have made a difference. She could've wrapped me up in cotton wool- and believe me she tried, so did Buck, but i was just a really sick kid." Peter frowned at that. It wasn't that Pops didn't discuss his childhood, because he did- well, it was more about him and Buck and how amazing his mother was. But, Steve always seemed to avoid bringing up the fact he could've died many times back then. 

It was the same with Dad, although he didn't discuss his childhood for different reasons. While Tony wasn't a sickly child like his husband had been, in fact he was the total opposite of Steve. While Steve was struggling to leave the house without catching the flu, Tony was living in a big mansion in the city that contained maids and personal chefs. While that would probably sound great to somebody, Peter knew that Tony's father was a sensitive topic to his father and therefore he usually kept the idea of his grandfather to his imagination. It was probably silly to call Joseph and Sarah Rogers and Maria and Howard Stark his grandparents because he had never even met them and they had died before he was even adopted. More so with Steve's parents, Peter knew that Pops dad died while Sarah was pregnant so not even Pops got to meet his dad. But that didn't make him any less of Steve's father, therefore Peter could refer to Joseph as his grandfather- if he felt like it. 

"There was this dog down the street though. I think-" Steve paused for a moment, who could blame him having to think back to the forties isn't exactly thinking back to what you had for dinner last night. "Her name was Kiko. I passed her a lot on the streets." 

"Cool name." Tony butted in with a grin, "You know i always expect people from back then to be named Arthur and Enid. Kiko though? That's trendy." 

"Alright, Alright, Back then?." Steve chuckled, "I didn't grow up in the fifteen hundreds." 

"Sorry darling." Although Tony gave Peter a look that read he wasn't exactly sorry at all. 

"I wish we could build a time machine so we could go back and meet your mom, do you think she'd like me?" Peter questioned, like a completely curious teenager would. Steve smiled warmly at that, pulling his son closing to him. 

"Of course she would, you're my son." he paused. "She thought i was God's gift. And if i'm being honest, i was so sick as i teenager that the doctors told her so many times i wouldn't make it to my thirties. The idea of me having a kid was off the cards." 

"Uhm..What about me?" Tony called out, "Feeling totally left out of here." 

"Come here you big baby, you would've been loved by her too." Peter laughed at his Pops words. "My ma was an angel, she would have loved anybody i loved."

Peter grinned over his Pops shoulder at Tony, who returned the expression almost instantly. They all could have stayed here together, you know if the world could go on without Captain America, Iron Man and Spider-Man. 

\-- 

"Are you kidding me? You cheated!" Ned dropped the controller on the coffee table and fell backwards against the couch in a huff. The action just made MJ grin bigger as she continued pressing every button possible until the screen lit up that she had won. Peter however was sat on a separate chair, half asleep which wasn't surprising considered it was 2am and Peter needed at least ten hours of sleep to function as your average human being. They hadn't planned on having a sleepover at Peter's but after midnight passed both Ned and MJ realized it would be a night spent here. Luckily for both of them, they didn't need to crash on the couch or sleep on Peter's bedroom floor because this was the house of Tony Stark- it would seem strange if he didn't have at least three spare bedrooms. 

"I did not cheat." MJ said casually as she leaned forward and grabbed the glass of juice that sat on the table. "You're just bad at it." 

Ned was just about to bite back when the door opened, revealing two very tired parents. Tony and Steve had been dragged away on an unexpected mission and therefore the house had been empty, in fact tomorrow morning Aunt May had planned to come over to check on Peter because they thought that both parents wouldn't be home in time. 

"Still awake, Petey? Usually around now Pops over here is having to carry you to bed like a baby-" Dad teased as he wiped the-motor oil? from his forehead and dropped his husbands shield against the door that he had been holding for the blonde. Pops walked in behind him, his suit was as usual dirty but other than that there didn't seem to be any physical injuries. Peter breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Tony, don't tease Peter in front of his friends-" Steve scolded, both MJ and Ned shot Peter quick smirks knowing that Peter was dying of embarrassment. "Hey you two-" Steve continued on, nodding towards MJ and Ned. "Your parents know you're staying over right?" 

"They do." Ned confirmed. 

"Great!" Tony said, a little too loudly. "Can you please carry me to bed now, the love of my life?" 

Steve and Peter automatically rolled their eyes at the man, but nether the less Steve reached forward and lifted his husband up and over his shoulder. Sure it hadn't been the hold that Tony had been expecting but it was good enough. "Whose the baby now?" Peter managed to call out before his parents dissapeared upstairs- only before he heard a reply that went something along the lines of 'go to sleep Pete, it's late.' 

"You're parents are cool, man." Ned muttered, apparently now half asleep with MJ's jacket covering his top half. "Do you think they'd adopt me?" 

\-- 

"Have you got your eyes closed?" Peter called out for the third time at least. 

He heard two groans from the other side of the room when he did, quickly followed by one of his parents calling out 'Our eyes are closed, for the hundredth time' 

Peter stood in front of his parents in the new suit that Tony had designed for him. While it kept the same idea of Spider-Man it was a much bigger improvement from what he started out with. One big difference was that this suit was metal, like his father's suit and was filled with many gadgets that Peter couldn't even figure out. Although Dad had informed him about the air freshening tool and he was already excited to test that out, so much so he was thinking about wearing it to bed to gain all the benefits. 

"I'm not sure it suits me- but-" Peter said before he allowed his parents to open his eyes as if he was in a dressing room in Bloomingdales trying on new clothes. 

"Peter, its not like i wear my suit thinking i'm going to London fashion week." Tony called out. 

"Okay, you can open your eyes." 

The reaction he was not expecting was for Tony's eyes to light up (that wasn't surprising) he designed the suit, of course he was going to love it. Pops on the other hand, looked as if he was about to burst into tears- happy tears however. "You look so cute." Cute was not the look he was going for here. 

"Pops! Cute? I'm not cute." 

"Son, your father would say you look cute in a bin bag. Get used to it, he still sees you as that seven year old boy who used to steal his sweatshirts." Tony chuckled, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to his husbands face before he was heading forward and calling out "Jarvis doesn't our boy look like the best dressed superhero to ever exist." 

"Certainly sir." Jarvis replied, earning a proud smile from Tony. 

\-- 

"Really? Right there?" Peter complained, his hands covering his eyes as he span around on the spot. Of course, like any normal parents his dads were lounged on the family couch half dressed and as much as Peter had tried to avoid it he knew that his Pops hair was disheveled for a reason. "i'm your child! I sit there-" 

"Petey, calm down." Dad said, in his usual laid back voice. "How was school, my little genius?" 

The teenager shrugged, "I got top marks on a physics paper." 

"I think that means you can decide what we eat for dinner tonight. What's it going to be?" Pops questioned, standing up and running a hand through his sons hair. Peter grinned, about to suggest is favorite meal when Pops phone rang. As it had been placed on the coffee table, all three family members turned to see Fury's name popped up on the screen. Steve groaned, Fury ringing the Captain of the Avengers could only mean one thing- they needed to assemble. 

"Yeah, on our way." Steve muttered, phone held to his ear. He glanced towards Peter who was looking at his father with a hopeful expression, with a halfhearted expression Pops said "Ready to come on a mission, my spider-boy?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks:)))


End file.
